The RETURN of the Q and A!
by Mii-Chan 24
Summary: I 'said' we'd come back, didn't I? This one goes to all of our old 'Q and A - Flock Style' readers, and I hope we can do as good as we did last time. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, come on in and see for yourself! -Max ON INDEFINITE HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

**The RETURN of the Flock!**

**By Amaya 24**

**Beta: Symeria**

**A/N: Well then! I **_**said**_** we'd be back, didn't I? And here we are! Ready to answer any questions you have... But now, we have a Beta. Which makes it all the more awesome. Let's get going, shall we?**

**0000MAXIMUMRIDE0000IS0000BACK!!00000**

"MAX! Omigosh, Max! Geez, where are you?!" Nudge's voice pierced through the quiet that filled Mom's home. We were resting again, licking our wounds and just overall recharging after yet another stressful goose chase.

I pulled down my headphones and looked up, yawning slightly. I stretched, feeling drowsy. Our usually sunny base was currently overcast and dark, too cold to go outside for anything. Like Nudge had mentioned to me earlier, it was perfect vampire weather.

"_MAX!!_"

"What is it, Nudge?" I asked, hearing the tinny noise coming from my headphones. It sounded vaguely like _Paramore_, but I'd lost track of what I was listening to, so I wasn't sure.

Nudge pounded up the stairs like a charging bull and almost knocked down the door to my (temporary) room.

"Please don't break my house, kids," Mom's voice drifted up the stairs wearily. Nudge nodded, looking out of breath.

"SORRY!" I winced at the loudness. Cloudy days made me sleepy, and loud noises made me feel worse.

"What's up, Nudge? What's so important that you need to sound like a pack of rampaging rhinos?"

Nudge blinked at me, her dark skin flushed. "Ohmigosh, Max..."

I waited as patiently as I could for Nudge to catch her breath. Dimly, I heard quieter footsteps come up the stairs, and soon Fang peeked his head around our doorframe.

"What's going on?" He asked quietly, taking in Nudge's frantic look. I shrugged, turning off my CD player to listen to Nudge more intently. Fang blinked and came over to sit next to me on the bed.

Nudge finally gulped down enough air to form coherent thoughts. "_Max!!_"

"I can hear you perfectly fine, Nudge. No need to shout," I pointed out, and saw Fang crack a small smile. Nudge frowned, brushing some stray strands of hair from her face.

"Max! You know how you said we should find a way to start the Q and A thing again? 'Cause that was _so_ awesome and really fun but we couldn't do it because the website said interactive things like that were--" I put up a hand, trying to slow her down.

"Yes, Nudge, I know. What about it?" Fang looked up at the very mention of the Q and A. He claimed he hated it, but we all knew deep down he enjoyed it as much as we did.

Nudge took in another breath. "Well, one of the people who wrote in a lot, um... Symeria, I think, sent us in a totally awesome idea!"

"What idea?" Fang asked, wearing his poker face. I rolled my eyes but turned back to Nudge.

"It's... well... c'mere," She motioned with her hand frantically, as if expecting someone to listen in on us. Fang and I exchanged a look but scooted forward to hear what Nudge had to say.

000000000000000000000000000000000000

When Nudge finished, Fang and I leaned back, digesting what we'd heard.

"You know what?" I began slowly, trying to wrap my head around it. "That's not such a bad idea..."

Nudge beamed. "I know, right? I mean, it would totally give us something to do when we're relaxing, and you_ saw_ how many people read and wrote in every week! We're like... helping humanity by writing this!"

I laughed a bit. "Helping humanity? Isn't that pushing it a bit, sweetie?"

"Well, I think it's a great idea!" The three of us looked up when Ella, Gazzy, Angel, Iggy, Total, and Akila walked in.

"Yeah. It was pretty fun to write responses to that," Iggy said nonchalantly, trying to go for the 'cool/badarse' type of thing.

"It was fun!" Angel chirped, clutching a newly-washed Celeste in her arms. "Celeste thinks so too."

"Yeah! I liked all the dares. 'Specially the food ones," Gazzy, of course.

Everyone turned to look at me and Fang. I fidgeted slightly. "Well..."

That immediately unleashed a torrent of _"Aw!"_s and Bambi eyes, making me reel back. I heard Fang chuckle beside me.

"C'mon, Max," He murmured, poking my side. I glared at him, letting out a small sigh.

"Fine..."

"_Yeah!"_

_"Alright!"_

_"Sweet!"_

_"Yay! Max, you're awesome!"_

I put up my hands. "Yes, yes. I know. I rock. You don't have to tell me."

"Oh, great. You guys just blew up Max's ego again," Iggy drawled, brushing his hair out of his face. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Shut up, Iggy."

"So, how exactly are we going to do this?" Fang's quiet voice broke through the ecstatic cheering coming from the younger members of the Flock.

"Uh..."

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

**Alright everybody, you heard. We, that is to say, the FLOCK, are back in business. Questions, comments, concerns- you name it, we'll answer.**

**BUT (and please notice the capitals) we do have to change a few things. Since the last time we **_**were**_** forced to cancel.**

**First of all, don't send in your questions via the review button. Heck, if your questions can't wait, it's so urgent it'll kill you if you don't get it answered, you can contact our... friends Amaya and Symeria at their profiles and leave a PM (private message) with them.**

**If you **_**do**_** leave a review, that's great. But again, no questions. You can leave flames or good job reviews, though.**

**I know it's a lot more complicated than it was before, but it's the only way we can get through the 'no interactive stories' thing. **

**(If you don't know what's going on, please go read our other stories **_**Q and A - Flock Style**_** and **_**Famous Last Words.**_**)**

**Well, here's waitin' on ya!**

**-Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, Angel, Total, and Ella.**


	2. Chapter 2

**The RETURN of the Q and A!**

**By Amaya 24**

**Beta: Symeria**

**A/N: Here we are! Chapter 2! It's amazing, really. We've gotten a ton of feedback from everyone, so the only thing left to say is thank you!**

**Disclaimer: ('Cause I keep forgetting to add this...) We don't own. Anything that seems familiar is **_**obviously**_** not ours.**

**A/N numero 2: Today's questions come from our Beta, Symeria! Thanks Sym!**

**- - - - -**

"So, Max. This Q and A thing... How exactly are we supposed to do this?" I glanced at Iggy, my mind still stuck in a tiny, windswept tent in the middle of a snowstorm in Forks.

"Huh?"

Ella laughed, taking _Eclipse_ from my hands. I moaned, wanting to read about Jacob and Edward's truce again. For the, like, millionth time.

"Earth to Maximum! We're talkin', here," Iggy complained, throwing a pillow at me. (Of course, he didn't miss.)

"What, Iggy?" I groaned, digging the palms of my hands into my eyes. It was Saturday, and Mom's vacation days started today. Ella was out of school for the summer, so that was just an added bonus. We were going to a water park near by in a while, but in the meantime, we were just sitting around in the living room, wasting away our time.

"How are we doing the Q and A?" Iggy asked again, saying everything extremely slow, as if he were talking to a kindergartener. I glared at him.

"She's glaring at you, Iggy." Ella narrated, flipping through my book idly. Iggy smirked.

"I dunno. Nudge's kind of been in charge of this," I shrugged, biting back a yawn. Reading usually got me tired.

"_Max!_"

"Speak of the devil..." I chuckled as Nudge shot into the living room, holding a piece of paper high over her head.

"Hi Nudge. What's that?" Ella asked, putting the book aside. Nudge beamed.

"Max, you know how we said we'd let our beta give us the first few questions? 'Cause Beta's can help out like that, right? Well, here they are!" She trilled, twirling around excitedly. I bit back a grin when Nudge let out an excited squeak.

"Max? You wouldn't happen to know _why_ my ears are bleeding, would you?" Total groused, walking into the room. He glared pointedly at Nudge before collapsing untidily

next to Iggy. Akila padded in after him, stopping next to Nudge to sniff her jeans.

"Anyways... You were saying, Nudge?" Nudge's grin widened, making me wonder if it hurt her cheeks.

"Oh, yeah! Symeria sent in some questions and dares!" She stopped, staring at me expectantly. I sighed, running a hand through my bangs, before turning to Ella.

"Well, sister dearest? What do you think?" Ella smiled.

"Let me just go and call Sean; he said he wanted to be around incase anybody asked us stuff."

Twenty minutes later, the flock plus Ella and Sean were seated in the den, close to the computer.

"Well, guys, this is it! Let's get started!"

**- - - - -**

_1. Dare: Gazzy and Iggy Eat five snickers bars, then do loop-de-loops in mid air.  
Whoever feels sick first loses._

**- - - - -**

"Sweet! You're goin' down, Igs!" Gazzy crowed, laughing maniacally. Iggy smirked.

"In your _dreams_, short stuff. Let's do this thing..."

A few minutes later, the whole flock, Ella, and Sean were gathered around Iggy and Gazzy. I held ten Snicker bars in my hands.

"You guys are mean. You're killing our candy bar stash." I complained, handing the boys their five candy bars. Iggy chuckled.

"On your marks..." Iggy tensed, fiddling with the Snickers wrapper.

"Get set..." Gazzy looked up, squinting in the bright sunlight.

"GO!" I have to tell you; I have never seen Snicker bars getting mutilated like that before. Ella and I watched as little scraps of wrappers slowly floated to the ground, their contents devoured by two raging beasts.

"Pigs..." Sean chuckled at my comment, starting a bit when Gazzy shot upwards, followed closely by Iggy.

They got up fairly high (not high enough to be seen, but high enough to do decent loop-de-loops) and started to, well, _loop_.

"One..."

"Two..."

"Three..."

**(A few minutes later)**

"...fifty-two..."

Both boys were still going strong, though on the last few rounds Iggy was starting to get a little sluggish.

"Five bucks says Iggy goes down first," I turned to glare at Fang.

"Gee, _you're_ nice."

"Deal," Sean replied, keeping his eyes trained on Gazzy. Angel looked up at me sadly.

"I think we should back away a little," She declared, staring at her brother curiously. I followed her gaze, then looked back down.

As one, we all took a few steps back. And not a moment too soon: Gazzy was finishing his fifty-seventh turn when he just froze in mid air. With a jolt, he shot down to the ground, a tiny, smelly little bullet.

He skidded to a halt near the underbrush, his face a delightful shade of pistachio green. With an almighty heave, Gazzy upended the contents of his stomach, much to our disgust.

"Iggy! You can come down now!" I shouted. Iggy grinned, before falling into a dive. He landed gracefully before us, a smug smirk on his face.

"Pay Sean, Fang." Fang rolled his eyes, digging into his pockets. Nudge and I exchanged a look.

"That's what you get for betting against your friends, Fnick."

**- - - - -**

_2. Dare Nudge See how many sour Patch kids you can fit in your mouth at one  
time._

**- - - - -**

"Sour Patch Kids! Cool! I _love_ how they taste! They're sooo good! You know what else is good? Chop Suey. Have you ever tasted it before? It's so fun to say, too! Chop Suey, Chop Suey... Did you know there was a _song_ named Chop Suey?"

"Max," Iggy groaned, rolling his eyes. "For the sake of everything good in life, please, please, _please_, get her to eat those things..."

I chuckled, thoroughly tuning Nudge's rant out. Ella blinked at me, holding a half-open bag of said Sour Patch Kids in her hands.

"Anyone want some? Before Nudge inhales them all, I mean."

Five pairs of hands greedily tucked into the bag, leaving it less than a quarter full. I glared at the bag.

"You know, you better hope we have enough," I threatened, handing the bag to Nudge. She beamed.

"Who's keeping track?" Gazzy asked, shoving a few Sour Patch Kids into his mouth. Us older kids stared at each other for a second.

"Not it!" I called, backing away.

"Not it!" Ella cried, smiling.

"Not it." Fang stared at Iggy and Sean curiously.

"Not it!" They snapped at the same time. I closed my eyes.

"Hey, I can't even do it!" Iggy pointed out. Of course, if he had really wanted to, he would

have found a way, but that meant...

"Sorry Sean."

"Aw, man!"

He rolled his eyes at Iggy (he knew as well as I did that if Iggy had really wanted to count,

he would have) and then looked at Nudge. "Whenever you're ready, Nudge."

Nudge nodded, a serious look on her face. She dug into the bag, pulling the first Sour Patch Kid out.

**(Some time later)**

"Sean, what number are we on?" I asked. I'd honestly lost track (between you and me, watching someone stuff candy into their mouth isn't all that interesting after a while.)

Sean looked up at me wearily. "Number 93. We're not going to be able to really finish, though."

"Why not?" Iggy asked sleepily. He was sprawled on the floor, taking up a lot of space. I reached out with my foot and poked him lazily.

"Because the bag's almost empty. We _should_ have had more, but you guys ate some before Nudge, so..." He shot Gazzy a meaningful glance, and saw my little trooper fidget uncomfortably.

"Lay off, Sean. We were hungry," Iggy declared, pushing my foot away. I smirked, poking him again.

"Mmmff." I looked up at Nudge and saw that her mouth was almost filled with Sour Patch Kids.

"I think it's safe to say that's enough," I started slowly, worried that Nudge would choke on all that candy. Sean nodded.

"Nudge can stuff 93 Sour Patch Kids into her mouth. Nice to know."

- - - - -__

3. Dare Max and Fang Sing a duet of "4 minutes to save the world" by Madonna  
and Justin Timberlake. 

- - - - -

Fang and I groaned.

"Again with the songs? Haven't we had to prove our singing skills enough before?" I muttered, kicking Iggy accidentally.

"Hey!"

"Sorry Ig."

"If there's one thing I've learned from the song things, it's to get them over with as soon as possible." Fang pointed out, pinching the bridge of his nose in a very Edward-ish manner. I could see Nudge's eyes widen ever so slightly when she saw that.

"Well, then. Let's go."

- - - - -

"I don't even know this song," I groused next to Fang, blinking at the computer screen. Ella had very kindly gotten the lyrics for us. Fang chuckled.

"This isn't exactly something _I'd_ listen to willingly, so stop complaining." I had to stop myself from sticking my tongue out at him.

"You guys ready?" Ella called, beaming brightly. I don't know why she was so excited. Heck, _I_ wasn't nearly as excited as she was. Sean gave me a small smile as he took his place next to my sister.

"Ready as we'll ever be," I grumbled, squinting at the screen. Fang shot me a small smile, immediately lighting my world.

"Here goes!"

"'_Come on boy, I've been waiting for somebody to pick up my stroll,'"_ I began, rolling my eyes. Fang chuckled next to me.

"'_Well don't waste time, give me a sign, tell me how you wanna roll,'"_ He stared at the lines, processing what he'd said, exactly. I actually saw him mouth 'how you wanna roll?'

incredulously. I bit back a laugh.

"'_I want somebody to speed it up for me then take it down slow. There's enough room for both,'"_ I wanted to gag.

"'_Girl, I can handle that, you just gotta show me where it's at. Are you ready to go, Are you ready to go?'" _Iggy laughed out loud, making me flush. Why are we doing this again? Oh, right. It was my fault.

"'_If you want it, You already got it,'_" We crooned together, shooting each other irritated glances. At least we were suffering together. "'_If you've thought it, It better be what you want. If you feel it, It must be real just…'"_

_"'Say the word, and I will give you what you want.'"_ I didn't miss the fact that Sean and Iggy had gone into hysterics; their laughing blocked most of the music from us. That is, until Ella smacked them senseless.

"'_Time is waiting,_" I 'sang', wanting nothing more than to crawl into a hole and die.

"_'We only got 4 minutes to save the world'."_ Fang chanted, more or less in tune. So the boy wasn't going to win American Idol any time soon; at least he wasn't completely tone

deaf.

"'_No hesitating.'" _I sucked in a deep breath, wondering if maybe I could ban singing from this thing. "'_Grab a boy.'"_

"_Grab a girl,"_ Fang rolled his eyes, glancing at the wall in a 'I-wonder-if-I-can-bash-my-brains-out-with-that-before-the-song-ends' kind of way. I shot him a warning look.

"'_Time is waiting,'"_ I gritted my teeth, wondering how long the song was, exactly.

"'_We only got 4 minutes to save the world.'"_ Ironic. Thank you, Symeria. Very, very nice.

"'_No hesitating,'" _Nudge was holding back giggles; I could hear it.

"'_We only got 4 minutes, 4 minutes,"_ Fang glared at the screen. I followed his gaze, choking back a laugh.

"_'Keep it up …..,'"_ Fang gritted his teeth, thoroughly regretting convincing me to continue this thing. "Max..."

I shrugged helplessly; this song wasn't my fault. Fang continued, regardless.

"'_You gotta get in line, hop, Tick tock tick tock tick tock. That's right, keep it up. Keep it up, don't….'"_

I couldn't keep it in anymore; I felt a few giggles escape me, and Fang turned his laser gaze on me. "Max..."

"Guys!" Ella cried, irritated that the song wasn't progressing. Fang rolled his eyes, anger rolling off of him visibly.

"'_You gotta get in line, hop. Tick tock tick tock tick tock.'"_

"'_Sometimes I think, what I need is a you intervention, yeah,_" I continued, patting Fang's shoulder hesitantly.

"'_And you know I can tell that you like it._" More laughter from Iggy and Sean, followed by the sound of skin hitting skin. "'_And that it's good, by the way that you move, ooh, hey hey."_

"'_The road to heaven, paved with good intentions, yeah,'"_ I stuttered, my throat dry.

"'_But if I got a night,'"_ Fang was still irritated, but the fact he was still going told me something. "_'At least I can say I did what I wanted to do. Tell me, how bout you?'"_

_"'If you want it, You already got it. If you've thought it, It better be what you want. If you feel it, It must be real just… Say the word, and I will give you what you want_.'" The thing about duets? They're awfully repetitive. And since it's two people singing instead of just one, it's even worse.

"We're almost done," I whispered to Fang, patting his shoulder again. He nodded, his face unreadable as always.

"'_Time is waiting,'"_ I croaked, biting back a yawn.

"'_We only got 4 minutes to save the world,_'" Fang growled, glaring daggers at Sean and Iggy. _That_ wasn't going to be pretty.

"'_No hesitating,_'" I hesitated, the lines blurring into one another. I really needed to sleep in more. "'_Grab a boy.'"_

_"'Grab a girl.'"_

"'_Time is waiting._'"

"'_We only got 4 minutes to save the world.'"_ Fang was plotting murder; I could tell. If only Iggy had the sense to shut up!

"'_No hesitating.'"_

_"'We only got 4 minutes, 4 minutes.'" _Fang sucked in a deep breath, ready for his little... JT impression.

"'_Keep it up ….. You gotta get in line, hop. Tick tock tick tock tick tock. That's right, keep it up. Keep it up, don't…. You gotta get in line, hop. Tick tock tick tock tick tock.'"_

Ella was beaming. "You guys did great!"

Fang smirked. "Thanks Ella. Do you mind if I borrow your boyfriend for a few minutes?"

Iggy and Sean turned to each other and made a mad dash for the door. Fang, unfortunately, beat them to it.

"Don't worry;" He called, smiling amiably at us while dragging Sean and Iggy behind

him. "We'll be back soon."

"Don't be too mean, Fang. We still need them to do stuff," I called after them.

- - - - -_  
_

_4. Question everyone Type in "Fred on Valentines Day" on Utube, watch, and tell  
us your thoughts._

- - - - -

"Ah, Youtube. Man's greatest invention," I sighed, booting up Fang's laptop. Quickly, I moved to our Favorites (Fanfiction dot net and Youtube amongst the top. Oh, and the Blog, of course.)

I clicked on the Youtube one and waited. And waited. And waited.

"Uh, it's not working..."

Nudge came over, placing her hands on the laptop. "Oh. It's overheated, Max. We have to wait a while before we can get on Youtube here."

"And heaven knows you aren't using _my_ computer to get on," Ella muttered, giving her decrepit computer an evil look. I shrugged.

"Oh well. Another time, then."

- - - - -_  
_

_5. Question Flock Who's scarier, Gozen or two Flyboys?_

- - - - -

"What do you guys think?" I asked, glancing at 2/3 of my Flock. You could vaguely hear thumping noises outside, but I was trying hard to ignore that.

Angel looked up from brushing Akila's fur. "Gozen. The Flyboys aren't so... icky looking."

Nudge nodded. "Yeah! Gozen was, like, disgusting. You know what he reminded me of? Frankenstein's monster. Not, like, the one from the book, 'cause you couldn't really know what he looked like in the book, right? But, like, the one from... Oh! You know that movie Ella showed us a few weeks ago? _Van Helsing_? Yeah! Like that Frankenstein's monster." I nodded, only processing about a fifth of what Nudge said.

"I didn't like Gozen. He smelled funny." Gazzy turned to look at me angelically. (He was getting good at that.) I nodded, wondering how he knew what Gozen smelled like.

"That's... lovely, Gazzer. Hey, do me a favor and get Fang and Iggy and Sean back, okay?" I asked him, stretching my back.

"No need," A weary voice called. Iggy and Sean slouched back into the room, looking a bit worse for wear. Ella immediately began fluttering over them, making sure they weren't dying. Fang walked in soon after, a satisfied kind of grin on his face.

"Have fun?" He nodded, sitting next to me.

"What was the question?" He asked, that same scary smile on his face. I had to stop myself from shuddering.

"What's scarier, Gozen or two Flyboys." I answered promptly, hands poised over the keyboard. Fang thought about it.

"Gozen. Flyboys we're used to. Gozen was just... sick."

"And... Iggy?" I asked our former cook/explosion guy. Now he was just... there. He groaned, touching his forehead.

"I feel like I've been fed to a wood chipper," He groaned. I chuckled.

"That's what you get for laughing. Now answer the question."

"Gozen." Gazzy and Nudge wandered over to Iggy and began poking him. I sighed.

"Guess you're not elaborating on that. Total? You wanna add something?" The little Scottie dog jumped up, happy to be picked on.

"Gozen. Totally. I mean, what kind of barbarian was he? Brutish, sick..." I rolled my eyes.

"Total, don't make me regret saving you from the Institute."

**- - - - -**

_6. Question Fang Why do you have such LONG hair in the Manga? (seeing the  
illustration of him on the blog made me laugh XD)_

- - - - -

The room was deathly quiet. I was actually expecting Iggy and Sean to start laughing again, but apparently they'd learned their lesson.

"Fang?" Fang looked up, looking bored.

"Um. I don't know? I didn't _ask_ them to draw me like that." He ran a hand through his short-ish hair, considering it.

"Besides," He continued. "It's not like they drew us exactly. Isn't that right, Nudge?"

Nudge looked up, her eyes wide. "D'you mean..." She looked down at her chest. Fang nodded, his cheeks a little flushed. I laughed.

"Nudge, your little boob rant made my day." Gazzy made a face at the word 'boob', but the others laughed.

- - - - -

_6. QuestionNudge and Ella Who is cuter from The new Chronicles of Narnia  
movie? Ben Barnes (Caspian) or William Moseley? (Peter) (I LOVE them  
both...heeheehee. They can handle swords very...well. drools)_

- - - - -

Nudge and Ella exchanged a look before jumping the computer. Literally. They pushed me away and stabbed at the computer noisily.

"Um, you guys didn't answer the question," I pointed out, wondering what they were looking for, exactly. They ignored me, whispering hurriedly with each other.

"Sean. I think your girlfriend just went crazy. You might wanna leave while you still can." Sean shot Iggy an irritated look before standing up. He looked like he was going to help Ella, but then he sat back down. I guess he just didn't have the guts.

"Ella? Nudge? Answer the question before I go find these two guys and turn them into Flock Splatter Art," I threatened. They both visibly stiffened and turned to glare at me as one. Whoa, freaky much?

"You wouldn't dare," Ella whispered, her eyes horrified. I smirked, glad to have their attention.

"Well, you can try me. Or would you rather I did that to your precious Robert Pattinson?" They exchanged a look, trying to figure out if I was faking or not. Of course I was bluffing, but I wasn't about to tell _them_ that.

"Okay, Max. Just... don't do anything rash..." Ella cautioned, acting as if I were the crazy one. I rolled my eyes.

"Answer the question."

"We love... BEN BARNES!" Ella cried, sending herself into fangirl spasms. Nudge glanced at her.

"No we don't. We love Willaim Moseley." She said it slowly, trying to get through to Ella. Ella immediately sobered up.

"I thought you liked Ben Barnes too..." She sounded like a sulky little kid. Nudge shook her head slowly.

"I thought _you_ liked William Moseley." They glared at each other, ready to start fighting for their loves. I cleared my throat.

"Well, if you ask me, they're both fine. But, you are forgeting that other guy." They blinked at me.

"What...?"

"...Other..."

"Guy?" They finished together. I sighed. Heck, I didn't even know his name.

"Um, that one guy. Skandar? Ugh... the one who plays Edmund. He's pretty cute too." They turned to look at each other before glaring at me. Medusa on her best day couldn't have done worse.

"_Are you nuts?!"_

_"You're kidding, right? That guy's like... ew!"_ I shrugged away their harpy screeches, turning back to the computer.

"Whatever. Ben Barnes sounds like a retard in the movie, and William Moseley is an impulsive moron."

"_Oh no you didn't!"_

**(A few minutes later)**

Nudge and Ella were sitting contritely in front of me. "Sorry Max."

I narrowed my eyes. "You better be. See what happens when you let your inner fangirl get out? Don't ever do that again." They nodded, sniffling.

"Max, don't you think that was a little... harsh?" I turned to glare at Sean.

"Oh, you want to be next?" He shook his head nervously and pulled away from me. Wimp.

"Let's just keep going."

- - - - -

_7.Question/Dare Fang and Max Fang, have you had any contact with Brigid  
since the whoel Antarctica thing? (if he says yes) Max, look on or something,  
find Sam's number, and call him. Put him on speaker with everyone in the room.  
Dare none of them to talk. (ESPECIALLY Fang.)_

_- - - - -_

I glared at the screen, then glared at him. He stared back blankly.

"I haven't." I tried my patented stink-eye.

"Are you sure?" He nodded.

"I haven't. I swear. Just... don't call Sam." I smirked, standing over him.

"Last chance to tell me the truth. Ange, you keep him from lying. Have. You. Talked. To. Brigid. Since. The. Antartica. Thing?"

Fang shook his head, slightly intimidated. See, there's a reason why _I'm_ the leader. I turned to Angel.

"He's telling you the truth. He hasn't." I sighed in relief.

"I didn't want to call Sam anyways."

- - - - -__

8.Dare Angel Take off celeste's tutu and dress her in a mini army outfit for 24 hours.

_- - - - - _

Angel pouted, playing with Celeste's frilly pink tutu. "I don't wanna."

"Sorry Ange." I said, still slightly irked. "But a dare's a dare. You can dress her up like a

cowboy or something if you don't want her to be an army officer."

Angel shook her head. "She wants to be a ballerina."

I rolled my eyes, what little patience I had wearing thin. Gazzy looked up, his hair more messed up that usual (he was using Iggy as his pillow, so...).

"Maybe Celeste can be a cowboy ballerina." Angel seemed to consider it. I wanted to hug Gazzy.

"She's a ballerina cow_girl_." Hey, whatever worked. I smiled slightly at Gazzy, then turned back to the computer.

- - - - - __

9.Dare Iggy offhand, make up a rap about cheese.

- - - - -

Iggy glared up at me, still sprawled on the floor. "There's no way in he--ck I'm going to do a rap about cheese."

I rolled my eyes. "Please Iggy?" I asked without conviction. All of this was slowly driving me insane.

"No. No cheese. Or any other food for that matter. Only a moron would make up a rap about food."

"What about that 'Lollipop' song?" Fang swooped in to save the day. I smiled as Iggy stuttered.

"Well... that's the exception."

"And the 'Candy Shop' one?"

"Aw... But _cheese_?"

"C'mon, Ig." I looked up at Fang, glad he was taking over. I needed a breather. He smiled at me, a crooked little smile that punched all the air out of me. No way...

"Fang, have you been reading my books lately?" Ella looked up curiously.

"We've all read your books, Max. What do you mean?" She asked. I shook my head.

"My _Twilight_ books." Ella frowned.

"Why're you asking Fang if he's read your books?" I rolled my eyes.

"He's dazzling me." I stage-whispered, studying Fang's expression. If he knew what I was talking about, then he'd _obviously _read my books. If not...

Fang blinked, looking confused. "What do you mean, 'dazzling' you?" I smirked. I'd seen his eyes flash away from me quickly. What a liar.

"FYI, Fang, I like Jacob a lot better than I like Edward." I was grinning like the cat that ate the canary (no pun intended), but my attention was pulled way when Iggy started sneaking out the room. "Not so fast, Igs. You still need to come up with that rap."

"Crap. Rain check?"

I sighed. "Fine. Whatever."

- - - - -

_10.Dare Everyone Wear a cape for 24 hours. (anything is valid, real cape,  
bathroom towel, sheet, etc.)(Mind control Jeb!! BWAHAHAH)_

_- - - - -_

I stared at the computer for a few seconds. "Cape?"

I glanced at Ella, at her boyfriend, then at Fang, before looking in the general direction of the stairs.

As one, we bolted up, crashing into each other in our rush to get decent 'capes'.

- - - - -

I tugged at my cape, feeling awkward. It was actually a blue bed sheet, but it worked. Ella had on a real cape, the cheater, from an old Halloween costume. Nudge had taken hold of a green towel (clean, mind you).

Sean had an old sweater tied around him, making him look more like a golfer than a superhero. Gazzy had wrangled a bandana round him, making is look more like a fashion statement than a cape. Angel had tied her pink blanket around herself and was now playing with cowgirl/ballerina Celeste.

Iggy had a bed sheet draped over himself, looking like a bad ghost costume. Fang had taken one of his own bed sheets and was trying to tie it around right. Even Mom, Total, Akila and Magnolia had gotten in on the action. Little dishtowels served as capes for the four-legged critters, while Mom had taken a sheet and thrown it on.

"Okay then," I began, staring at everyone. "Well, _this_ isn't weird."

- - - - - _  
_

_11.Dare Gazzy Summarize your life in song to the tune of "That's how you  
know" (from Enchanted) or "Be our Guest" (Beauty and the Beast) preferably in  
the voices of the characters)_

_- - - - -_

Gazzy flinched. "That's hard."

"I know, sweetie. Do you want to try, or do you want to skip?" Gazzy frowned.

"Skip. I'll do it later." He furrowed his little brow, mouthing the words to himself.

- - - - -_  
_

_12.Question Sean If Iggy wanted to date Ella, Do you think you would want to  
beat him up? (have Sean answer) Do you think you COULD beat im up?  
_

**- - - - -**

Sean looked at Iggy before turning back to me. "Do I have to answer this?"

I shrugged. "Only if you want."

Sean glanced at Ella sadly, then at Iggy. "Okay."

"Yeah, I'd want to beat him up. Unless, of course, that's what Ella wanted. If she wanted to date Iggy, I guess I'd have no choice but to leave."

I had to hold in an _AWW_ back. How romantic. How incredibly Edward-ish. He's been reading _Twilight_, too. I turned to look at Nudge, who was positively spazzing. I even saw her mouth 'Edward' to herself.

"Could I beat him up? No way. You guys are too strong. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't try."

Iggy fidgeted in his seat. "Hey man, don't do that. You're makin' me feel bad."

Sean snickered. "I'm being truthful, Iggy."

"Um, can you guys stop, please?" I squeaked, holding Nudge back. She looked like she wanted to glomp Sean.

**- - - - -**

_13. Question Everyone minus Dr.Martinez and Jeb Who was (or is) your favorite  
American Idol contestant of this season? (I thought of this cuz I remember  
fang saying he was a Constantine fan a WHHILLE back on the blog, LOL!)  
_

_- - - - -_

"American Idol is a work of pure genius!" Total cried, ready to launch into another rant.

"If you say so." I didn't really like it all that much anymore. "I kind of liked David Archuleta." Fang shook his head.

"David Cook."

"Oh... I liked... Syesha. How do you spell her name, anyways? It's pretty, though!" Nudge smiled, still trying to get over her Sean/Edward episode.

"I don't like American Idol," Iggy muttered flat out. Okay then...

"Me neither," Gazzy sniffled, still trying to figure out the 'Be Our Guest' thing. Angel was still playing with Celeste.

"I liked... Carly. It's like iCarly." I rolled my eyes. So much for that.

Ella smiled. "I like David Archuleta. He sounds more hispanic."

"That's the only reason?" She nodded. Well, when you put it _that_ way...

"Sean? Anyone else? Not you, Total. You'll just start ranting again."

Sean shook his head, and Total pouted. "No fair."

_- - - - -_

_14. Dare Gazzy Do an impression of Paula Abdul during one of her "You're so  
special" rambles._

_- - - - -_

Gazzy frowned. "I dun like American Idol. Who's Paula Abdul?"

"The crazy lady who showed up high on one of the shows," Iggy snickered. Gazzy nodded.

"I don't wanna, Max." I looked at my watch, wondering why everyone was being so... ornery. Oh. It was getting late.

"Well, I guess that's a reason. Fine, Gaz. Don't do Paula Abdul. How's that song coming?" He shook his head. Moving on, then.

- - - - -

_15.Question Fang Do you play any instruments?  
_

_- - - - - _

We stared at Fang expectantly. He rolled his eyes. "I can't play piano, if that's what you're thinking."

_But he was planning on learning_, Angel thought at me. I hid a smirk.

_He's trying to be like Edward, isn't he?_ Angel nodded, laughing brightly.

"There _are_ other instruments out there besides a piano, Fang." Sean pointed out, smiling evilly. Fang nodded, looking at Sean. What's going on here?

"Yo. What's going on?" I demanded, glaring at my sister's boyfriend and at my second-in-command. Fang didn't give anything away, but Sean fidgeted under my stare.

"I've been... teaching Fang how to play guitar?" He squeaked, using Ella as a human shield. She was not impressed. "Hey, she's scary!" Was his excuse. Whatever.

"Well then, you could have just said that." I said slowly, trying to figure out the boys' mental capacity. They weren't _really_ that slow, were they?

- - - - -_  
_

_16. Dare Fang Use said instrument to sing a short song offhand for everyone  
besides Max. Take as long as you need and compose a serious song (preferably  
ballad!!) for Max. _

_- - - - -_

"I don't have a guitar with me." Fang blurted out as soon as I finished. Huh. Sean kind of smirked.

"I can ask my brother to bring it over." I nodded, glad to put Fang in the hot seat, so to speak.

"That'd be great, Sean. Thanks."

A few minutes later, Sean came in, nursing his head. "My brother." He explained. Oh.

"Here." He tossed the beautiful guitar at Fang, who caught it deftly. Fang glared at him.

"Hope you get a concussion," He growled, plucking a few of the strings to make sure they were in tune.

"Don't be mean, Fang." He rolled his eyes, but began strumming. The sound slowly filled the room. He stopped suddenly.

"I'm not that good at making up songs spur-of-the-moment... Can't I just play a random song?" I shrugged.

"Sure." He nodded, starting up the song again. I vaguely recognized the tune.

"_This world will never be what I expected,_" He murmured, his voice blending perfectly with the melody. His fingers stumbled over the strings for a second, but then he righted himself. "_And if I don't belong, who would have guessed it?"_

Whoa. Didn't _this_ fit us like a glove?

"_I will not leave alone, everything that I own, to make you feel like it's not too late. It's never too late..._" Nudge bit back a squeal, staring at Fang admiringly. I had to admit, he wasn't too shabby.

_"Even if I say it'll be all right, still I hear you say you want to end your life."_ I shuddered. I was getting goose bumps just listening. "_Now and again we try to just stay alive. Maybe we'll turn it around 'cause it's not too late, it's never too late."_

He took in a deep breath, a small smile on his face. "_No one will ever see this side reflected. And if there's something wrong, who would have guessed it? And I have left alone, everything that I own to make you feel like it's not too late, it's never too late."_

We couldn't help ourselves anymore-- we clapped wildly, cheering as Fang stopped strumming. "You _do_ know that's not the end of the song, right?" He asked, a small smile on his face. I shrugged.

"It was great!" He smiled modestly, but I could see the satisfaction rolling off of him.

**(Later that day)**

It was 9-ish, and Angel, Gaz, Nudge, Total, and Akila were already in bed. Sean had left hours ago, but left his guitar behind ("You can practice more now."). Ella and Iggy were chatting in the den, watching a soccer game. For once, Ella wasn't screaming at the TV.

For some reason, I wasn't feeling too... friendly. I wanted to be alone for a while, so snuck into the kitchen and smuggled a bag of Oreos outside.

I shivered slightly, the cool air reaching through my t-shirt. I kind of wanted to go back inside and get a jacket, but that would mean a confrontation with Ella. (I swear, nothing gets past that girl).

I shook my wings out and perched on our tree, staring down at the house lazily. (If you don't know what tree I'm talking about, see _Q and A - Flock Style: Chapter 7_). Ripping the bag of Oreos open, I held one in my hand. I pulled it apart slowly, making sure the cream wasn't pulled away with the two halves.

"Hey." I jerked up, looking at the branch above me. Fang glanced down, a worried look on his face. I frowned, my heart pounding up a storm against my ribs.

"Hey. Don't do that again. Ever." He chuckled and jumped down, landing on my branch without a sound. I kept myself from rolling my eyes and offered him the Oreo bag thing. "Cookie?"

He smirked and grabbed two, balancing on the branch for a second before sitting down. I bit into my cookie, already feeling better. _Chocolate really _is_ good for the soul!_

"You okay?" I looked up, blinking.

"Yeah. Just a little tired." Fang looked unconvinced, but I brushed it away. The silence stretched on uncomfortably for a while, making me shiver slightly.

"That was really cool. The guitar thing, I mean." I finally blurted out, trying to break the silence. Fang chuckled.

"It's hard," He admitted, reaching over and grabbing another cookie. "It took me weeks to get that song straight." I nodded like I knew what he was talking about.

"So... Not as easy as _Guitar Hero?_" He rolled his eyes.

"Not at all." I relaxed, leaning against the trunk of the tree. The silence wasn't that bad anymore. I just hoped he wouldn't do anything to ruin it.

"You were right." I raised an eyebrow.

"I always am." He snorted, licking the cream out of the Oreo in his hands. "Right about what?"

"The _Twilight _books." Well, that was a surprise. I tried to wipe the smile off my face, failing miserably.

"And? What'd you think?" I smiled, feeling excited. Fang shrugged.

"It wasn't bad. I just don't get why girls get so excited when people talk about it." I smiled harder.

"Of course you don't get it. You're a guy." He glared at me.

"What's that supposed to mean, Max?"

"Oh, nothing." He rolled his eyes, huffing irritably. I held out the Oreo bag again. "Peace?"

He grabbed another one, chewing it over. "You know, I never finished my dare."

"What dare?" He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.

"The second part of that last dare. 'Member? I had to play a song for the Flock, and then one for you." I looked at him, hoping he wouldn't notice the way my cheeks flushed.

"You don't really have to, you know." He shrugged, and I dimly heard crunching sounds.

"You aren't going to tell me what's wrong, are you?" I sighed wearily.

"Fang... Look, you know I tell you everything." A snort from Fang. "Okay, _almost_ everything. But honestly, I don't know what's wrong. I just feel... iffy. Maybe it's..."

"What?"

"Uh... Don't get grossed out, got it? You're the one who wanted to know."

"Just tell me, Max." I smirked wondering how he'd take it.

"Maybe it's just... nothing." I could almost hear Fang roll his eyes. "So what now?"

"Dunno." Thank you, Fang, for your lovely comments. Seriously, would it _kill_ the guy to answer with more than one word?

"Hey, Max?" I looked up.

"Yeah?"

"You know, my birthday's coming up soon..." Hey, that's right! It's almost June. Four months since my birthday.

"What are you suggesting, Fang?"

"Nothing, just thought I'd remind you."

"Fang, your birthday isn't until the end of June. We still have a month. And I would have remembered anyways."

"Yeah, well..." I rolled my eyes (seems we're doing that a lot, huh?) and threw a cookie at him. Good times.

- - - - -

**A/N: Well, that's about it, guys! Thanks again for reading this little waste of space! Next time, we'll have questions given to us by... ****Twilighteer1211 and one dare by sunshinerosesandDEATH, I do believe.**

**Keep reviewing, guys! We love what you have to say! But, again, no questions via REVIEW. If you need to send in things, make sure to PM either ****Amaya24**** or ****Symeria**_**.**_

**Bye guys! Review!**

**-Max**


	3. Chapter 3

**The RETURN of the Q and A Chapter: 3**

**By Amaya 24**

**Beta: Symeria**

**Hi everyone! Thanks for coming back to our next chapter!**

**Before we begin, though, I have an apology to give out. Um, to any guys out there reading this, I'm sorry about the 'guys-don't-get-Twilight' barb. Really. I feel kind of bad after someone pointed it out to me. Honestly guys, I didn't mean anything by it; it just kind of slipped out. I'm sorry. I'll grovel if I have to. Sorry.**

**Disclaimer: Anything familiar isn't ours.**

**A/N: Okay guys, again, sorry. Um, I got a couple of questions about Fang's birthday, but rest assured. We'll get to it soon.**

**- - - - -**

I sighed, rubbing my temples. Okay, so I felt bad about the little Twilight thing, especially when a reader (a guy, which is kind of rare) sent me a message saying... yeah. I felt bad. Really bad, but my little barb was meant for Fang.

"You apologize yet?" I turned to glare at my sister.

"Yes. Quit reminding me. I feel bad." Ella chuckled mercilessly.

"You know, Max, that little thing you said could almost be considered _sexist_--" I stood up, banging my knee against the keyboard.

"I. Get. It. Ella. Drop it," I growled, my cheeks flushing in guilt. God forbid that _I_ turn sexist too. Ella laughed.

"Don't worry about it. I get it. So, Q and A today?" I shrugged. I felt bad about the comment thing, and I sure didn't want to say another stupidity like that. Ella frowned.

"Come on, Max. Let it go already. You're... mostly human. You make mistakes." Well, when you put it _that_ way.

"Okay. Thanks Ella. I guess." I stood up, massaging my knee. "Can you go get everyone for me? I'll boot the computer up again." Our poor computer was crashing over and over thanks to the heat wave attacking most of the southern U.S. (Now, I don't know if any other places are getting this much heat. We've tried to avoid going out much.)

I stabbed at the little computer tower button, frowning. That was a horrible little slip up...

"Max?" I swiveled around, sighing as Angel walked into the room. I was getting paranoid now. Angel frowned.

"It's okay, Max. You didn't mean to say that, and you apologized too. So it's all good now." My little baby was lecturing me. I sighed again, kneeling down and opening my arms. Angel beamed and ran to give me a hug.

"Thanks Ange." I whispered. Angel nodded into my shoulder.

"Yo, Max?" I looked up and saw Iggy and the rest of the Flock walking in. Ella had the phone in her hands, calling her boyfriend to come over.

"Yeah, Iggy?" He smirked at me.

"I hate to interrupt this lovely display of affection, but..." He stopped, smiling like the Cheshire Cat.

"Shut up, Iggy," I snapped, standing up and whacking him in the back of the head. "I hope you have to eat dog food or something."

- - - -

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late!" Sean called, running into the room completely out of breath. Ella rushed over to fuss over her boyfriend.

"No worries," I said, glaring at Nudge. We were playing Chess on Ella's old board, and she was taking forever to move.

"Nudge, you're not Alice. Just go," I muttered, glancing at my pieces. Nudge frowned, her hand straying towards a bishop.

"Max?" I frowned; I didn't want to miss Nudge's move.

"What?"

Fang rolled his eyes and picked up the chessboard, making us look up. "Q and A?" Oh, right.

- - - - -

_G'day Flock!  
Moi have some questions, AS PER USUAL!  
And a couple dares..._

Max: What is your deepest, darkest, secret? And have you seen Eraser Max  
recently? Also, I dare you to confess your true feelings to Fang. Angel, make  
sure she is telling the truth! Oh, and Max? You CAN'T block your mind AT ALL!

- - - - -

"My deepest, darkest secret?" I echoed, frowning. "I thought that was Eraser Max."

The rest of the flock shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Eraser Max. Ella glanced at me worriedly.

"Uh, but I haven't seen her lately," I said hurriedly, waving my hands in front of my face. Ella shoved me off the computer, squinting at my dare.

"Max? Confess your true feelings to Fang." I rolled my eyes. Don't people get tired of making me do this? I took in a deep breath.

"Fang?" He looked up, his face unreadable. I fidgeted uncomfortably. "Listen... You're the best second-in-command a mutant bird kid could have." Hey, they said _true_ feelings. They didn't specify what _kind_ of feelings! "You've helped me out so much, so..." I shrugged, smiling sheepishly at him. "Thanks."

Ella frowned, turning to Angel. "Well?"

"She's tellin' the truth."

"But that's not what we wanted to hear!" Ella pouted, glaring at me fiercely. I shrugged at her.

"Sorry?" Just because _she_ wanted some mushy FAX crap doesn't mean _I_ have to give into it!

- - - - -

_  
Fang: What is your greatest fear? Also, remember when you told an Eraser  
'You... are... a... fridge... with wings. We... are... freaking... ballet...  
dancers!'? Well, dress up as a ballerina! No time limit, just the whole flock  
must see you._

_- - - - -_

"Greatest fear?" Fang frowned slightly, thinking about it. "Being locked up again." The rest of us nodded in understanding. It was kind of unanimous. Except for the snakes, rats, spiders, and assorted other critters that gave us the willies.

Iggy chuckled at the 'fridge with wings' comment. "Dude, you should watch what you say. Now you have to be a ballerina!"

Sean laughed along with Iggy. I coughed a little, hoping to avoid another episode like last chapter's. "Guys? Remember what happened _last_ time you laughed at Fang?"

That immediately sobered up both boys. Fang glared at the computer screen. "I'm not going to do it."

"Aw, come on, Fang! Please?!" Nudge begged, literally getting down on her knees. Angel copied her, and even forced Total to get down. Fang rolled his eyes.

"If he doesn't do it, he has to do something else." Ella declared, giving us an evil look. I glanced at her.

"Like what?"

She shrugged. "Something worse." Fang gulped, staring at my sister.

"I'll do the ballerina thing." Ella smiled.

"That's a good boy." She followed Fang up the stairs, dragging Sean along behind her. Total shook his head, lying down next to a sleeping Akila. The heat was really taking a lot out of them, poor babies.

"She's got him whipped."

A few minutes later, Ella came back, a smug smile on her face. Sean slouched in behind her, a crazy smirk on his face. They both bit back giggles as they sat down.

"Well?" I demanded, hands on hips. Ella chuckled, clamping her hands over her mouth. Angel looked up, her forehead damp with sweat.

"Fang doesn't wanna come down 'cause Ella's tutu doesn't fit him." She informed us, dragging the back of her hand across her face.

I rolled my eyes and turned the fan in the room towards the younger kids. Gazzy and Nudge smiled gratefully and unfurled their wings slightly, trying to cool down.

After that, I trudged out of the room, ready to drag Fang down into the living room. "Fang? Come on out, you wimp. You can take on Flyboys and Gozen and stuff, but you can't handle wearing a tutu for a few seconds?" I called as I searched the rooms, hoping to rile him up enough to drag him out.

"Easy for you to say, Max. You're not the one wearing this stupid thing," He called back from the bathroom. I shook my head and sat down across from the door, staring at the wooden door.

"Hey, you can't complain. You're only going to wear it for a few seconds. Think of all the poor ballet dancers in the world that have to wear that constantly." It was a lame argument, I admit, but I really wanted to get this thing moving.

"Come on, Fang. Please? Come on out." I whined, banging my head against the wall behind me. Dimly, I heard Fang sigh.

"Do I have to show the rest of the Flock?" I nodded, then realized he wouldn't be able to see.

"Yep." I popped the 'P', wondering how bad it was. It really couldn't be _that_ bad. Fang sighed again, and the latch unlocked.

"I swear, Max. If you laugh, I'll tell everyone about that time you told me--" I knew exactly where this was going.

"Okay! Okay, just shut up, Fang. I swear I won't laugh." Slightly more sure of himself, Fang opened the door. I instantly had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing.

"It's not that bad..." I grimaced, wondering if I could play off a laugh like a cough. Fang's eyes narrowed.

"Like hell it's not," He muttered, tugging at the pink frilly mess loosely considered a tutu. _He looks like Celeste_. I thought to myself, holding my breath to keep any giggles I had inside.

_He does?_ Angel thought back to me, sounding slightly happy. I could do nothing more than nod. Fang glared at me and marched towards the living room, tension rolling off him in waves. Once he was out of earshot, I stuffed my fist into my mouth, silent giggles running through me.

From the living room, loud cackles could be heard.

- - - - -__

Iggy: What do your wings look like? The books never told us what your wings  
look like... AND your dare is BLOW UP Max's clothes! Gazzy can help you!

- - - - -

"My wings?" Iggy frowned, his eyes closed. "I don't know. Someone describe my wings to them."

"Do it yourself, lazy," I snapped back, poking him. "You've got your powers. Why don't you use them?" Iggy glared in my general direction then sighed, maneuvering around Fang to stand up.

Fang had disposed of the pink frilly menace and was glowering at everyone in the corner. I had kept my promise and _not_ laughed, even though the Celeste comparison had almost made me choke.

Anyways... Iggy stretched his hand back, looking like was trying to scratch his back. Instead, he ran his fingers over his wing feathers, brow scrunched up in concentration.

"Okay... Let's see... huh." With that, he slumped back onto the couch. We all waited for a few seconds.

"Well?" I prompted. Iggy grimaced.

"They're chocolate-brown on top," He relayed bluntly, his eyes closed. "And rust-colored underneath. There's a little white on the outer feathers, though."

"That was kind of... short," Ella muttered from her boyfriend's arms. Iggy shrugged.

"Hey, I get to blow up stuff. You wanna help, Gazzer?" Gazzy nodded happily, and they both got up to head towards my room. I stopped them, though.

"How about this, guys," I said cajolingly. "I let you blow up my stuff, but _I_ get to pick what you blow up."

Iggy frowned, thinking about it. "What do you think, partner?"

Gazzy looked up at me. "Sure."

I smiled at them both and ran up the stairs, digging under my bed for the one thing I wouldn't mind seeing get blown to bits. I ran back down, holding something short and black in my hands.

"Here," I thrust it at Iggy and practically threw them out the door. Ella glared at me.

"What did you give them?" I smirked.

"Nothing."

"It was the black miniskirt you got her," Angel said, scooting over towards Akila to use her as a pillow. Ella turned to look at me, horrified.

"The skirt? But _why?!_" I smirked.

"You're kidding? Why the heck would I wear that anyways?" Ella whimpered and ran out the door, hoping to stop the inevitable. Fang looked up.

"You had a miniskirt?" I glared at him.

"Does it matter?" He shook his head meekly. That's right.

- - - - - -

_Nudge: Have you ever lost your voice? And, I'm sorry Nudge, your dare is to  
not talk for a week! If you complete the dare, you can talk as much as you  
want!_

_- - - - -_

"Have I ever lost my voice? Yeah! Like, twice, I think. See, I got a really bad cold, so I had a sore throat, but then one thing led to another and--" Nudge rambled, happy to have some input. Iggy slapped his hands over his ears.

"Bleeding ears, Nudge. Bleeding ears." She pouted, glaring at him sullenly. Ella frowned.

"Nudge not talking for a week? When pigs fly, maybe." She muttered, glancing at our motor mouth. Nudge looked at her, insulted. I turned to look at my sister, a small smile on my face.

"Ella? _Sus scrofa/Aves_ combinations were actually pretty popular in Itex for a time." Ella looked at me like I had two heads.

"What?"

"She means the whitecoats actually made flying pigs," Iggy drawled, smirking. Ella blinked.

"You're kidding." Sean laughed. I shook my head.

"Nope." I turned to look at Nudge. "So, sweetie. Are you up for it? Not talking for a week?"

Nudge frowned, thinking hard. We stared at her, waiting to hear her final answer. With a sigh, she hung her head. "I can't do it."

I reached over to ruffle her hair. "Don't worry about it, Nudge. I don't think we'd be able to live without your incessant chatter anyways."

- - - - -

_  
Gazzy: Same question as Iggy! I asked you guys on your blog but I always get  
ignored! glares at fang ANYWAYS, your dare is to fart as loud as possible in  
a public library when it's all quiet._

_- - - - -_

Gazzy looked up at me. "My wings? They're grey."

"Try and describe them more," I murmured, smiling. Gazzy nodded, then reached over. Deftly, he plucked out one of his feathers (ouch!) and twirled it around in his fingers.

"They're dark grey. And they have little white tips." With that, he let the feather drift lazily onto the ground. Until it was swept up by the fan's draft and blow into Nudge's face.

"Lovely, Gazzy."

"No library," Ella muttered, her eyes half-closed. "I don't want to get banned."

"Well, it's not like we can go right now anyways. It's too hot."

- - - - -__

Angel: Hi Angel, your question is, do you think Fang and Max like each other?  
Also, describe what they feel about each other. Your dare is that you have to  
to control Iggy the rest of the day! Don't get in the way of his dare though!

_- - - - - _

"Hi!" Angel called, to the computer, I guess. "Do I think Fang and Max like each other? Yeah! Just like I like Iggy, and Nudge likes Fang, and Gazzy likes Max and..."

I bit back a laugh. "I don't think they mean it like that, sweetie." Angel turned her blue eyes on me. Sometimes it was hard to remember she was only six.

"Almost seven!" She reminded me, combing Celeste's fur. I nodded. Almost seven. Ella frowned.

"Keep going!" Angel nodded and looked at me, then at Fang.

"What they feel? It's, like, weird... Like, um... Oh! Well, sometimes, it's like the way Sean and Ella feel, good and stuff. But sometimes it's iffy. Like they're fighting, but they're not. Well, not _fighting_, but not Sean-and-Ella."

I blinked. "What?" Angel shrugged, wrinkling her nose and shaking her head. Iggy looked up, glaring at us.

"I'm not letting a six year old mind-control me. Say no, Max." I smiled. Technically, this wasn't a good thing, but a chance to see Iggy under Angel's control was too good to pass up.

"Sorry Igs." Iggy groaned as Angel focused on him. He stiffened visibly, then slid down like his spine had disappeared. Angel giggled.

"Iggy? Stand up." Iggy stood up, a grimace on his face. Angel frowned.

"What do I do now?" Gazzy and Nudge exchanged a small look.

"Make him act like Edward!" Nudge, of course. Ella nodded, snuggling deep into her boyfriend's side. He smiled warmly and hugged her. Everybody with me now: _Awww_...

"No! Make him blow things up!" Gazzy cheered. I shook my head.

"Gaz, that's what he does anyways. We're trying to get him to do things he normally _wouldn't_ do." Gazzy nodded in understanding and furrowed his brow, trying to think.

"Make him sing opera." Total chimed in, half-asleep. Fang looked at me then at Total, eyebrow raised. I shrugged.

"Make him your personal slave for the rest of the day." We turned to look at Sean, who seemed fairly happy with his suggestion.

"That's not that bad..." I mused, smiling slightly. Iggy let out an incoherent squeak. Angel looked up at me.

"We do that?" She asked, her angelic face bright. I shrugged.

"Sure." Angel beamed, then glanced at Iggy.

"Iggy, go get us something to drink, please." I think that the please was kind of pointless; he was under her control anyways. It didn't matter if you ask please.

- - - - -__

Total: (no, I didn't forget you...) Why do you hate being called a dog so  
much? Also, I dare you to stalk any member of the family (besides Angel), and  
TRY not to get noticed.

_- - - - -  
_

"Why? Do _you_ want to be compared to monkeys all the time?" He demanded, his little furry body shaking with fury.

"Of course not, Total," Ella murmured, trying to soothe the poor little Scottie. He humphed angrily and opened his mouth, wanting to add something.

"Dare, Total," I muttered lazily, feeling the strain of answering random questions and even randomer dares. He humphed again and walked out the room, muttering to himself. We stared after him, confused.

"So..." Gazzy looked up at me, his eyes wide. "He's gonna stalk someone?"

I nodded. "Probably whoever walks out the room." Gazzy stood up, stretched, and walked out the door. A few minutes later, he came back, looking confused.

"I can't find him." He sat back down on the floor, looking confused. Next to him, Angel giggled.

"What's up, Ange?" I asked. She shook her head and smiled. Okay then... Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a little black blur dart behind the couch. Oh...

_He's good._

- - - -

_  
Jeb: Actually, no questions, two dares. I dare you to streak around the  
school! I also dare you to watch SHOES on Youtube!_

_  
That be all! Good luck on all my dares!  
Bye!  
Twilighteer1211_

_- - - - -  
_

"Streak? Are we _trying_ to blind everyone at Itex?" I asked, the image of a naked Jeb burning into my skull. Ew...

"I don't mind," Iggy muttered, smirking. I glared at him and dug the palms of my hands into my eyes, feeling scarred.

Fang chuckled and sat next to me, rubbing my back. "That bad?" He asked in a teasing tone. I squeezed my eyes shut and reached out to smack him.

"Yes, that bad. Imagine a naked Jeb running around the school." I heard Nudge yelp.

"Ew! Max! That's gross!" She squealed, shaking her head back and forth, trying to dislodge that thought. Fang chuckled quietly next to me.

"Not going to do that," I pushed out through gritted teeth. "_Shoes_ is fine. Streaking? No way."

**(At Itexicon)**

Jeb Batchelder was sitting in his office, struggling to finish his latest project. If he didn't get it finished now, he'd be fired. Or worse.

A nagging feeling hit him suddenly. _Hi Jeb!_ Max's voice sounded in his head. He bit back a groan.

_Hello Max. Is something wrong?_

_Nope_. She seemed unbearably cheerful, like she... With a jolt, Jeb stood up, his eyes wide.

_Max, whatever you're planning, don't do it._ Max chuckled, the sound echoing eerily in Jeb's head.

Something forced him to go back to the computer, exit his program (without saving, much to his horror) and head to another website.

"Youtube?" Jeb frowned as his hands typed out '_Shoes_' in the search bar. Max wanted to see him shoes?

A list of videos popped out, and again his hand clicked on one without his wanting to. He waited patiently while the video loaded.

"_Lyke, omigod, shoes!_"

"What in the world?"

- - - - -

_Okay, Fang, I dare you to go into the bathroom, splash toilet water on yourself  
and he cancan while singing any Disney princess song." Hehe. SORRY FANG! DON'T  
KILL ME! Sunny_

_- - - - -_

"Uh, no." Fang glared at us (me especially), daring us to ask Angel to control him.

"Please?" He shook his head.

"Pretty please?" His eyes narrowed.

"Please, Fang?" Nudge took up the cry, and pretty soon she and Angel were unleashing the full force of the Bambi eyes on him. He shut his eyes, grimacing.

"I'm not going to splash toilet water on myself." Ella looked up.

"Then cancan while singing to Disney princess songs." She compromised. Fang shook his head.

"Hey, you said you wouldn't do the toilet water thing, not the rest of the dare," I pointed out. He frowned, thinking hard.

"How about I do the water thing, but not the cancan/singing?" I looked at Ella. She shrugged.

"Fine, but it has to be toilet water."

Glaring darkly at the computer, Fang trekked up to the bathroom. A few minutes later, he came back down, his shirt and most of his front soaked with water.

"Ew," I coughed, grossed out. I mean, come on, guys! It's _toilet water_. Sure, we've gone dumpster diving and stuff, but this is a new low.

"Max, no more dares that involve dripping water all over my house!" Mom called from her room. She was taking a nap, supposedly, so I was surprised that she heard that.

"Sorry Mom!" Ella and I called, smiling sheepishly at each other. Fang rolled his eyes and lifted the hem of his shirt to wipe the water off his face.

"Fang, that's sick," I muttered, pointing out the door. He stared at me.

"What?"

"Outside. You're getting hosed down, mister," I glared, daring him to ignore me. He rolled his eyes again and sighed, stalking out the door. With a cheer, the rest of the flock followed, talking about water fights and water balloons.

"No water balloons," I said sternly. Then I looked at Iggy and Gazzy. "And no water bombs either, boys. Fang first, then we'll play with the water."

I wandered over to the hose, little spider webs sticking to my hands as I turned the faucet. The hose spurted noisily, dousing Magnolia (who'd followed us outside).

"Sorry," I called out, grabbing hold of the writhing hose and pointing at Fang. "Stand over there." He listened, much to my surprise.

Once ready, I put my thumb over the hose, making the little steam of water turn into a slightly faster jet of water. I turned the hose on Fang and watched as the water hit him, making him grimace. After a quick round with the hose, I made him turn around and pretty much tried to get him as wet as possible.

After realizing I wasn't ridding him of the toilet water anymore, Fang turned and chased after me. I started running, the hose trailing behind me. Whenever I thought I had the advantage, I'd turn around and squirt him.

I'd pretty much turned our yard into a giant mud puddle, to the great joy of the youngsters. I was still being chased around, but while trying to hit Fang, I'd hit Sean and Ella too. So now all three of them were chasing me.

I wasn't really worried about being caught; I was more worried about tripping on the hose. Just as I thought that, the hose tightened under my hands and I slipped in the mud, skidding a few feet away and letting go of the hose.

I groaned, standing up and brushing the mud off my clothes. Until a shadow stood over me, that is. Fang glared at me, hose in his hands, dripping wet.

"No, Fang, please don't!" I yelped as the cold water hit me square in the face. I spluttered, coughing, as the water went into my mouth.

"Revenge is sweet, Max," Fang lectured, the water still on me. I glared at him as best as I could and jumped up, trying to wrestle the hose out of his hands. The ground was slippery, though, so we both kind of went down into the mud.

"Give me that hose!"

"Get it yourself!"

"No-- Fang! Ah!" I yelped as he hit me from behind, pushing me into more mud. I heard him laugh, then heard the dull thump of a body hitting mud. I looked up and saw him on the floor, looking dazed.

Sean stood above him, hose in hand, grinning triumphantly. "What now, Fang?"

Iggy, who'd taken shelter on the roof, shouted down. "Down his pants, Sean!"

Sean smirked, taking advantage of Fang's dazed-ness to shove the hose down his pants. Fang let out a curse and yanked the hose out, glaring daggers at Sean. He put his hands in the air, palms up, shaking. "It was Iggy's idea!"

Iggy was laughing so hard he was wheezing. "He actually _did_ it?!"

Gazzy flew up to the roof, his blond hair caked in mud. "Calvary, _attention!_" I frowned. What? "Ready! Aim! Fire!"

Mud balls started raining on us, courtesy of Angel, Nudge, and Ella. Gazzy cackled wildly and swooped down, pelting us all with piles of mud.

"No! Guys! Stop!" I laughed, watching as Fang and Sean, the only two that were standing up, got hit over and over. I was still on the ground, so I only got hit once in a while.

"Kids!" We all stopped, still giggling, as Mom stood at the door, an angry look on her face. "My house?"

"Oops." The whole side of the house was now also covered in mud. "Sorry Mom. We didn't plan this."

"We'll clean it up, Mom," Ella murmured. Mom nodded, then looked at Sean.

"Sean, dear, do you want to wash off the mud? I don't think your parents will appreciate you coming home like that." Sean nodded.

"Thanks Mrs. M." Mom nodded, ushering him inside.

"Don't worry. I'm sure Fang's clothes will fit you for the time being. The rest of you, wash off with the hose and wipe the mud off the house. Angel? Gazzy? As soon as Sean's finished, you two come in and clean up."

"Aw, man! How come we don't get to go in first?" Iggy moaned, still on the roof. I glared at him.

"What are you complaining about? You didn't even get wet!" He shrugged and smiled at us. I rolled my eyes and picked up the hose gingerly. Fang caught me.

"What are you doing?" I smiled sheepishly and held the hose out with my thumb and forefinger.

"Um, I don't know where this has been." Fang rolled his eyes and yanked the hose out of my hands, squirting me. After all the muck was off, he went off to save Angel, Nudge, Gazzy, and Ella from the mud that was quickly drying on them.

After that, he turned the hose on my mother's house, the mud dripping to the ground. In less time than I'd thought possible, most of us were mud free. All except Fang. He glared at me and held out the hose.

I grabbed it, flushing as I thought of... what Sean did. Shaking my head, I turned the hose on Fang, watching as the mud lumped together at his feet.

"There." Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge watched as their toy finally dripped to a stop. Total came out of the door, his nose twitching.

"Mud. Ugh." He's survived the mud bath by staying indoors with Akila and a wet Magnolia. "Oh, your mom says you four can come inside now."

Ella and the younger members of the Flock ran in, followed by Iggy. Leaving me and Fang alone. Great.

"So..." I turned around to look at Fang, and my breath caught in my throat. He was taking his wet shirt off. I blinked and looked down.

"Max?" I looked up, then looked down again. I heard mud squelch as he walked over, still shirtless, I presume.

"What?"

I dimly heard him chuckle. "Does my being half-naked bother you?"

My hands flew to my mouth as I kept from laughing and/or squealing. I looked up and saw him looking at me blankly, waiting for my reaction, the cheater.

"Copyright," I coughed out, hoping my blush wasn't too obvious. I mean, come on! Honestly! He rolled his eyes at me and sat down in one of the few dry patches of land, a smug look on his face.

"You've been waiting to use that, haven't you?" He nodded, still smiling. He scooted over on his little patch of dryness and patted the free spot next to him.

"Guilty as charged. I wanted to see what would happen." I glared at him and sat down, shivering slightly.

"So, Fang. June 27th is coming up. What are you gonna want for your birthday?" Fang looked at me, smirking.

"World peace, a Mercedes M3 -- black, of course--, a Fender guitar..." He listed. I glared at him.

"Now pretend I'm _not_ made of money." He chuckled, water dripping from his hair.

"I don't care, Max. Anything you guys give me will be great." I thought about it for a second.

"So... no hints?" He rolled his eyes, a small smile on his face.

"None." Well, _fine_ then. I leaned on his shoulder, feeling drowsy. See, this was nice; none of that FAX crap. We were friends. _Best_ friends. I didn't want to go ruin that by wanting to be something more. Not that I wanted to be, mind you.

_We all have to grow up some time, Max._

_Go to hell, Voice._

_- - - - - _

**Hi guys! Thanks again for reading our pointless little... thing. Let's see here... Next time's questions are going to come from 2 people! But we'll let you see that next time, okay?**

**Questions (not the dare kind), comments, concerns, leave a review! If you want questions to be put up on the Q and A, again, PM either ****Amaya24**** or ****Symeria****, okay? **

**And before we go... go show our Beta some love! Go read **_**Ari's Return while Others are Missing**_** (and I'm almost positive that's the complete title; we usually just call it Ari's Return) and **_**Terryn Cullen!**_

**I swear, as a Twilight fan, **_**Terryn Cullen**_** is THE best OC fic out there. I'm serious. Go read it! Or Gazzy'll skunk you guys. Kidding, kidding...**

**Well, guys, thanks again for reading! :F (and that is a little vampire smiley, courtesy of our Beta. Just hope Nudge doesn't see! :)**

**-Max, the Flock, Sean, and Ella**


	4. Chapter 4

**The RETURN of the Q and A: Chapter 4**

**By Amaya 24**

**Beta: Symeria**

**Well, here's a new chapter, you guys! I won't bore you with any long author's notes: just remember... Fang's birthday's the 27.**

**Disclaimer: We don't own **_**anything**_**.**

_- - - - - _

"Ella?" My sister sat in front of the TV, concentrating hard. She had been absolutely still for about an hour now, barely breathing. I leaned over cautiously and poked her side.

"What?" She asked absently, her eyes narrowing. I looked up at the TV screen and saw what had captivated Ella's attention so: a soccer game.

"Ella? You've been a bit out of it since you started watching..." The rest of the Flock was with me, watching quietly to see if Ella would do something. Someone had actually thought about calling Sean, and now he was curled up next to his girlfriend, lazily watching the game. So much for that.

"Uh-huh..." I rolled my eyes and looked at Fang, who just shrugged. Ella bit her thumb as the ball sailed from a blue blur to an orange one.

"Who's playing?" Fang asked, squinting at the screen. The window behind him was shooting a glare on the TV.

"France and Netherlands." Sean answered, just as absently as my sister. Soccer buffs. Jeez.

"Who's who?" Angel asked, looking at the little multi-colored figures running around chasing the white ball.

"France is blue; Netherlands orange and white." Oh no. She's caught Fang's monosyllabic answering-ness.

"I thought soccer balls were supposed to be black and white?" I hoped Ella would snap out of her sport-induced stupor with my 'naive' question. No such luck.

"Um, usually, but people make them different colors to make them stand out. Like, if a team's uniform is black and white, they'll make the ball yellow or something."

"Who's winning?" Iggy asked, slouching against the sofa. He unfurled his wings slightly, whacking my leg.

"Watch it, Igs."

"Love to, Max, but I can't. So, who's winning?" Ella frowned, wondering if she should take the time to answer.

"Netherlands one nothing." She answered curtly. Sean sat up slightly to kiss Ella before lying back down, his eyes tracking the ball as it sailed into the blue goal. "Er... Netherlands _two_ nothing."

"Netherlands? I thought France was a better team." Iggy muttered, frowning slightly. Since, you know. He couldn't see.

Some French guy began speaking on the TV, in Spanish, no less. You could tell he was French, though. That Pepe le Peu accent is very distinctive. No offense to any French people, of course.

"How come you're watching it in Spanish?" Fang asked, leaning over to turn up the volume. Ella frowned as her view of the game was blocked for a few seconds.

"Don't have it in English. Soccer only comes out on Spanish channels." Oh, well that's kind of mean. "We don't have the channels for that."

"Because you only have basic channels?" Iggy questioned, wincing as I smacked him over the head. Lightly, of course. I wouldn't want any of his rabid fangirls coming after me.

"Yes. Now quiet. Watching _futbol._" She jerked as the ball shot into one of the goals again.

"Three-one. Netherlands isn't bad. Either that, or France is having an off-day." Sean noted, leaning forward as the team took a penalty shot.

"Who's winning, sweetie?" Mom called from the kitchen. Ella's frown deepened.

"Netherlands Mom. Three to one."

"You owe me, Ella." I blinked. They were betting on the game? Ella grimaced but nodded.

"Yeah..." Sean chuckled and hugged her. How... sweet, I guess.

"So, no Q and A today?" Nudge asked, gazing up at me. I shrugged.

"Dunno. Ella?" Ella growled, getting irritated.

"Fine. Later. After game."

"After which game?" Sean asked, smiling. "There's another game after this."

Ella turned to look at him slowly. "Who?"

"Mexico and Belize. They're playin' in Houston." Ella's eyes widened as she turned to look at me.

"Max? It's..." She whimpered, pointing at the TV. I sighed. Oh well.

"I guess. How long can it last, anyways?"

**(Two hours and thirty minutes later)**

"Finally," I sighed as Ella began a victory lap around the living room. It was almost _painful_ to watch the game. I had never really enjoyed watching sports on TV much, and heaven knew I couldn't stand the testosterone, especially when Sean and Fang started arguing about something. (I'd lost all interest in what was going on when they started.)

"Max, this is _good_!" Ella cried, flipping over the back of the couch to land next to me. "It's _fun_ to watch soccer!"

I rolled my eyes. "Sure, sure." She grimaced, though I wasn't sure if it was at my line, or at the fact that I didn't agree with her.

"She's got a point, Max. It wasn't bad." Oh, so now Fang's the FIFA spokesmutant? I'll bet.

"Whatever. Can we start answering random fan questions now?"

- - - - -

_FOR THE Q AND A_

First, the Twilight references are bloody amazing.

Anywhooters, getting onto the nonhumiliating questions (you know you love me  
for it!)

_Total (You rock! Akila too!): If you had to pick between eating dog food and… let's say human hair, which would it be?_

- - - - -

"What kind of choice is that?" Total demanded, wrinkling his nose. Nudge looked at us, eyes wide.

"You know what? Yesterday I was watching _Ripley's Believe it or Not_ on TV--"

"That still comes out?" Sean asked, surprised. Nudge frowned, irritated that she'd been interrupted.

"Yeah. Well, anyways, I was watching it, and I saw this one thing about this girl who would eat her hair--"

"Why would she do that?" Iggy asked, smirking. Nudge glared at Iggy.

"If you let me finish, I'll tell you. Anyways, she'd eat her hair 'cause she thought it tasted good--"

"Ew, why?" Ella chimed in. Nudge's eyes narrowed.

"Let Nudge finish, guys. Quit interrupting. You were saying, Nudge?" I prompted, shooting everyone a dark look.

"_Anyways_... I don't know why she said it tasted good; she just thought it did. Well, for years she did that, until she got sick and they took her to the hospital. It turns out that the hair hadn't been digested and kind of stayed in her stomach. It got to be so bad that it clogged her stomach up."

"And we needed to know this... why?" Iggy asked, eyes closed. Nudge pouted.

"I don't know. I just wanted to say that."

"That's great, Nudge." Fang half-smiled at me and turned to Total.

"You didn't answer the question, Total." Total grimaced.

"Dog food. At least that's digestible. To a point."

- - - - -_  
Angel: Is the most scarring thought you've heard from the Flock or from  
somewhere in the School? Or even somewhere else?_

_- - - - -_

"Um... scarring? Like, how?" Angel turned her blue eyes towards me. I shifted uncomfortably. Fang looked over, then smiled slightly at Angel.

"Bad to you." Angel nodded in understanding before furrowing her brow.

"Um. The By-Half Plan. Or... when they thought about our parents..." She frowned, her eyes welling up with tears. I reached over and rubbed her back, trying to calm her down.

"Shh... It's okay, sweetie. Don't worry, Ange. It's okay." I hugged her tightly, and opened my arms for Gazzy to join the sob fest. Poor kids. I swear, if we ever find their parents, I'm going to give them a piece of my mind.

- - - - -

_Nudge: Jasper or Jacob? You cannot say Edward._

_- - - - -_

Nudge frowned, glaring at the computer. "Jasper."

I rolled my eyes. Of course. Iggy smirked again.

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Shut up, Iggy! Vampires are better than those stinking dogs!" Nudge cried, glaring at Iggy. I coughed discreetly behind her.

"Nudge, don't start." She turned to look at me, slightly embarrassed but on a roll.

"But they _are_!" I rolled my eyes.

"To you, maybe. Others have other opinions."

"So, Max. You like the 'stinking dogs', huh?" Iggy continued, smiling widely. I rolled my eyes at him, then frowned when he couldn't see.

"They're not dogs, they're werewolves. And yes, I do. If you have a problem with it, I'll rip your spine out and beat you over the head with it."

Sean chuckled. "You sure know how to change someone's opinion, huh, Max?" I smiled at him brightly.

- - - - -

_Iggy: Funniest thing to happen to the Flock while you're out saving the  
world? (coughs birdseed coughs)_

_- - - - - _

"Well, the birdseed thing was a good one," Iggy muttered, a Rubix cube in his hands. He twisted the thing around, his new power telling him what color each square was.

"Then again," He continued, a small smile flitting across his face. "That thing we did at Anne's house... Gazzy, that was genius."

I wrinkled my nose. "You mean gross. He reeked of cow patties for a week!" Ella looked at us, shocked.

"What did you _do_?" I smirked, glancing at Gazzy. He smiled angelically at my sister.

"Anne's house got the Flock Splatter Art treatment. Our paint? Cow turds." Ella made a face.

"That's gross..."

"Fang blogged about it," Sean piped up, smiling widely. Sometimes it was easy to forget he was a Flockster himself.

Fang nodded, smiling smugly. "Yup."

- - - - -_  
Gazzy: Do you like video games? I'm curious. If so, what's your favorite  
game? _

_- - - - -_

"Yup." Gazzy answered, sprawled on his back on the floor A la Iggy. "My favorite game is ... I dunno. I like playing _Psychonauts_. It's fun. It's got brains in it. And I like _Kingdom Hearts_ too, but it's got too much Disney stuff in it."

"That's great, Gazzer. " I stopped myself from rolling my eyes.

"I like playing _Guitar Hero_ too, though. And _Rockband_. And--"

"That's enough, Gaz. I think people get it."

- - - - -

_Fang: When you were about to attack the Flyboys after you and were ambushed  
when you were looking for the younger kids and Iggy and Total (3rd book) and  
you reminded Max of the er remark she made while she was getting her chip  
out (I'm not cruel, Max, I won't make you go through that again.), was it just  
to make her angry, or so that she really would be able to take out more  
Flyboys?_

_- - - - -_

"A little of both," Fang answered, a small smile on his face. "'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned', right?"

I grimaced at him. "What a comedian." Then under my breath: "I'll show _you_ fury..."

Iggy laughed out loud, the sound making Total jump. Akila just looked up, licking her lips. "You tell him, Max!"

"Thanks Iggy." Sean chuckled, shaking his head. I squinted at my sister's boyfriend, suddenly noticing something different: was it just me, or had he cut his hair? It was messy, in a fashionable way, I guess. Like...

"No way," I laughed, surprised Nudge hadn't mentioned it. "Sean? Your hair..."

Nudge looked up, honing in on Sean's new hair style. "OH EM CEE!! It's-- it's..."

"'Oh em cee'?" Iggy echoed, a small smirk on his face. "What's _that _mean?"

"It's short for 'Oh My Carlisle'. Like 'Oh My God'. But Carlisle is... yeah. _Twilight _thing." I explained. Sean looked surprised.

"What's wrong, Nudge?" He asked, confused. Nudge squirmed on the spot, cheeks flaring up red in excitement.

"_Edward!_" She squealed, launching herself at Sean. Ella laughed as Sean stumbled back, trying to keep from falling on his butt.

"Nudge, stop killing my boyfriend, please," Ella giggled, prying our motor mouth off of her 'Edward', leaning over to kiss his cheek.

"Stop, Nudge," I walked forward to pull Nudge back. Wouldn't want her crushing the poor human boy posing as a rich, immortal vampire. :F

"Aw..." I glanced over at Sean, who seemed enthralled with my sister. Iggy made a gagging noise. How anticlimactic.

- - - - -_  
Complete sentence required (as in a verb and a noun)  
Max: Would you rather face 500 Flyboys or let the boys have guns. Not sure if  
you knew already, but Fang is pretty kickbutt when he uses one of those  
things. Despite he nearly shot Gazzy in the knee._

_- - - - -_

"You almost shot Gazzy in the knee?!" I snapped, turning to Fang. He shifted uncomfortably.

"Well, I didn't _hit_ him, did I?" I glared at him.

"There's a _reason_ why I said, 'no guns', Fang." He frowned.

"Why not? We got rid of a ton of Flyboys with that!" He argued, standing up. I stood up too, cursing the fact that he towered four inches over me. It's hard to be intimidating to someone who's taller than you.

"And you almost _shot Gazzy!_" I shot back, crossing my arms across my chest. Iggy yawned from the couch. Gazzy and Angel were huddled together, watching us with interest. Nudge sat next to Sean and Ella, staring at Sean's hair. Iggy decided to break the tension.

"Answer the question, Max. You can finish your little lover's spat later." I flushed angrily, glaring at him. Stupid blind sarcastic bird kid...

"Um, 500 Flyboys. There's no way in he--ck I'll _ever_ let my boys have guns." Iggy pulled a face.

"I'm touched, Max. I really am. 'Your boys'?" He opened his arms up, acting like he wanted a hug.

"Shut up, Iggy."

- - - - - _  
Ella: Do you like Harry Potter?_

_- - - - -_

Ella shrugged. "It's okay. I used to like it more, but other things came along..."

"Like _Twilight!_" Nudge chimed in, smiling brightly. Ella nodded, curling up into her boyfriend.

"Like Twilight," She agreed, smiling sappily. Sean looked down and smiled at her, trying to pull off Edward's crooked smile.

"That thing should be copyrighted." Nudge looked confused, so I elaborated on that.

"Edward's crooked smile. Seems like everyone's trying to pull that off nowadays." I glared at Fang, then at Sean. He shrugged, smiling guiltily.

"Well, lately, Fang hasn't done anything remotely Edward-ish, Max." I grimaced. I was still mad at him about the gun thing.

"Nope." Angel looked up at me, a curious look on her face. Wonder what that's about?

- - - - -_  
Sean: Not including the ones that involved you, what is the worst  
dare/question yet?_

_- - - - -_

"The ones here, or the ones from the old Q and A?" He questioned, running his hand through his hair. I shrugged.

"These, I think."

"Uh, well, we haven't really gotten too many bad ones yet..." Fang narrowed his eyes at Sean.

"Except for the toilet water one, of course." He stuttered. As much as Sean wanted to be Edward, he'd never be able to pull it off with _Fang_ around.

- - - - - _  
Dr. Martinez: Same as Sean, only they can include ones that involved her._

_- - - - - _

Mom walked in, a curious look in her eyes. "Well, recently, I haven't received too many questions or dares..." She shrugged.

"The only ones I can't stand are the ones that dirty and destroy my house. And the one where Fang and Max pretended they were pregnant." I felt my cheeks flare up on that one. It came out in the old Q and A, somewhere.

"Thanks for reminding us, Mom," I coughed, digging my knuckles into my cheeks. That wasn't very nice... I glanced at Fang out of the corner of his eye, and saw him fidgeting in his seat. Well, it's nice to see that I wasn't the only one suffering.

- - - - -

_Jeb: Worst thing these kids have made you do so far?_

_- - - - - _

"Pretty much everything we've done has been bad for him, don't you think?" I chuckled when I thought about it.

"The 'My Little Pony' thing was fun." Sean chimed in, smiling at the memory. I coughed, holding back a laugh.

"Don't forget the running into walls thing." Iggy muttered, yawning. I nodded.

"And all the other bad things. I don't really think we need him to answer. He doesn't deserve to answer anyways."

_Now, Max, that's not--_

"Yeah. Doesn't deserve to answer."

- - - - - _  
Dares (only a few):  
Angel: Make Jeb 'bother' his superiors in a high-pitched voice. (If you don't  
know what I'm talking about, watch Potter Puppet Pals on YouTube)_

_- - - - - _

"Potter Puppet Pals?" Angel looked up at me, eyes wide. Ella laughed, staring at Nudge.

"Remember the one we say the other day?" She chuckled. Nudge cracked up.

"Oh, the one with the bomb?"

"And Dumbledore naked?" I stared at them.

"Pardon me? Dumbledore was naked?" They both nodded, giggling madly.

"'What _is_ that ticking noise?'" Ella began, making me frown.

"'Snape, Snape, Severus Snape. Snape, Snape, Severus Snape." Nudge started, giggling. It was a bit weird. Then Ella kept going with 'Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron _Weasley_!' and so on. It was fairly irritating.

"Guys, stop!" I shouted, covering my ears with my hands. I wasn't the only one. Sean, the only person in the room who didn't seem bothered by their little Potter Puppet Pals thing, laughed.

"It's not that bad, Max." I glared at him.

"You're lucky I don't want to take my hands off my ears." Iggy groaned as Ella and Nudge began singing again.

"Turn it off! Please!"

_Jeb, you're _so_ lucky they got sidetracked._

- - - - -

_Fang: Wear a pair of heels all day. (Psst! Ella, give him your highest and  
most painful pair)_

_- - - - - _

Fang frowned. "Heels? No way." Iggy laughed, using his super-duper imagination to picture Fang in heels.

"I wouldn't be laughing, Igs." I muttered, reading the next line.

- - - - - -_  
Iggy: Same as Fang._

_- - - - - _

"I am _not_ going to wear heels." Fang smirked smugly.

"You were saying, Igs?" Iggy grimaced.

"No way am I going to wear heels. Fang can wear heels. I am NOT going to wear heels. Make Sean wear heels." Sean chuckled.

"This is your dare, not mine." Iggy frowned, 'looking' at me.

"Max, please! I'll do anything! I'll be your slave for a week! I won't make any more sarcastic comments about you! I'll stop telling Fang--" I raised a hand, not ready to hear what Iggy was about to say.

"No, Iggy. It's your dare. You suck it up." Iggy groaned, muttering under his breath. Fang smirked at me.

"Hey, but Fang still has to do it too, right?" Iggy asked suddenly. Fang looked at me hopefully.

"Yep. Fang has to wear heels too."

"You suck, Max." I smirked at Ella.

"Make them as high as possible, okay?"

Ella beamed and grabbed Fang's wrist before latching onto Iggy's arm and dragging him up. "Hey!"

"Don't be too rough on them, Ella." Sean called, smiling widely. He was going to enjoy this a lot.

A few minutes later, Ella skipped in. She sat on the couch, kissing Sean's cheek on the way. I stared at her for a second.

"You're happy. It's that bad?" She nodded, smiling even brighter. "Well... _don't_ tell us or anything…"

"Sorry Max. It's just..." Here, words failed her and all she could do was beam at me. Sean chuckled.

"Fang! Iggy! Get your butts down here, you wimps!" I shouted when the guys failed to show.

"Shut up, Max!" Iggy shouted back. I raised an eyebrow, then turned to the rest of my Flock, who'd gotten bored after the last dare. Gazzy was watching as Angel built a puzzle, listening to Iggy's iPod. Nudge was reading _Eclipse_, quietly mumbling the words to herself, and Total was sleeping next to Akila. Sean and Ella were canoodling on the couch, and Mom was in the kitchen, baking cookies.

"Guys, I hope you don't mind, but I've got to kill a couple of people. Be right back." I stalked out of the room and found Iggy and Fang outside, talking to each other. In socks. I cleared my throat to get their attention.

"Hi guys. Having fun?"

"Yeah, actually." Iggy muttered. I rolled my eyes, then looked at Fang. He shrugged at me.

"It hurt."

"Now you know how we feel. Come back in; we're not done." I waited until they were both inside and slammed my head against the wall. My God, they were like toddlers.

_- - - - -  
Everybody pick a random (humiliating isn't required, but it's a plus) name;  
the person sitting to your approximate left must now be called that for the  
rest of the day._

_Well, that's all I have, so have fun with my questions and dares!  
JtC_

_- - - - - -_

We all sat down in a rough circle, glancing at the person to our left uncertainly. I had Iggy; he had Sean, then Ella, then Angel, then Total, then Nudge, then Fang, then Gazzy. And me again.

"Uh, Iggy..." I frowned, trying to think of a good name. "Um..." I glanced around the room, hoping to find inspiration. My mind was blank.

"Iggy, you're now going to be... Tinky-Winky." I smiled to myself. Ella laughed, and Nudge frowned.

"Iggy does _not_ look like Tinky-Winky," She told me seriously. I shrugged.

"Hey, they said random, okay? And that was the first name that popped into my mind." Ig-- I mean, _Tinky-Winky_ rolled his eyes, then smirked.

"Sean, you shall now be called... Squishy." We all burst out laughing at that one. Sean flushed.

"Squishy?!" Ella smiled at her boyfriend's mad expression.

"I think it's cute." Sean turned to my sister and his eyes immediately warmed up. Gag me.

"Ella... you're going to be my Bella." Cue loud _aww_'s from me and Nudge. I mean, honestly. How unbearably cute can you get?

"Aw, how sweet," Ella (or, Bella, should I say?) blushed, smiling at Angel. "Angel's going to be..." Ella thought about it carefully. "Blossom Pepper Doodle von Yum Yum."

I stared at my sister, worried about her mental sanity. "What the heck, E--Bella?" Ella/Bella shrugged.

"I saw it on a TV show once." Angel beamed.

"I _like_ that name!" Of course you do, sweetie. Angel smiled at me before turning to Total. He cowered before her, already wondering what horrible name he was going to get.

"Total, your new name is... Shane! Like the guy from _Camp Rock!_" Total gasped, glancing at me fearfully. I shrugged at him.

"Sorry... _Shane_." Total huffed and glanced at Nudge.

"Nudge, you're going to be Angelina." Nudge blinked.

"Who?" Total sighed.

"Angelina. Like, Angelina _Jolie_?" Another blank look from Nudge. "Lara Croft? Nothing?" Nudge shook her head sadly, much to Total's irritation. "Jeez..."

"Sorry T-Shane." Nudge turned to Fang, mulling it over. She then gave me an evil smile.

"Fang, you're going to be... Edward." I frowned. Edward? She was doing this to spite me, I knew it. She _knew_ I liked Jacob. Not that that means anything, though. 'Cause I don't like Fang. Not like that. And I know you're smirking at the screen while reading this. I don't.

Fang shrugged. "Gaz, you're... Axel." Gazzy beamed. I, on the other wing, hoped that Gazzy wouldn't use that as his new fake name.

"Cool! Thanks Edward!" Gazzy looked at me.

"Max, you're gonna be... Kairi!!" I groaned. Kairi?

"Kairi. Like that little girl from your videogame?" Gazzy nodded. Okay then. I wrinkled my nose.

"That was... strange." I sighed, my eyes watering tiredly.

_  
_"Well, that was the first part. We have a few more questions to answer. Everyone okay with that?" I asked. Iggy/Tinky-Winky rolled his eyes.

"You're going to make us answer anyways." I nodded at him.

"That's true. Just trying to be nice, though."

- - - - -

_Total: Are you and Akila still together? Are you planning to have pups with her?_

- - - - -

Total yelped. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Pups? Who said anything about pups?" I laughed.

"Nervous, Total?" The little Scottie shifted around, avoiding everyone's gaze.

"No... Of course not. I just think that... you know... it's a little sudden to be thinking about settling _down_! I mean, I still have thing I want to do! I haven't been to the Pantheon yet! I haven't been to the Louvre! There are tons of things I want to see before thinking about kids!" I chuckled.

"Total? You're hanging around with six bird kids on the run. What are the chances of you actually doing anything you just said?" Total frowned.

"Well, we went to the Eiffel Tower, didn't we?"

"Because we were trying to find Itex. Not because we _wanted_ to."

Total sniffed. "There's always hope..."

- - - - - -

_Nudge: What is your favorite musical?_

_- - - - - _

Nudge frowned. "I dunno. I liked _High School Musical_. Does that count?"

"Barely." Ella muttered. She loved HSM about as much as I did. Which wasn't much. She actually _used_ to like it a little, but then she saw this subliminal message thing on Youtube that had one of the HSM songs, and since then she's avoided it like the plague. Anyways... Nudge nodded, thinking about it.

"Aren't most Disney movies musicals? I mean, they all burst into song randomly. Just like musicals." Iggy chimed in. Gazzy nodded.

"They do that all the time in the old movies."

"Even some of the new ones have random songs like that," Fang added. I frowned.

"Why are we talking about Disney?" I demanded, confused. Fang chuckled.

"Because we have nothing better to do." Oh. Great.

- - - - -

_Everyone: What do you think of Sweeney Todd?_

_- - - - - _

The older kids began nodding in approval. "It was cool." Sean smiled.

"Had too many curse words." I muttered. Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge had begged me to see it, but I wasn't about to let them hear all those curse words incorporated into songs. Besides, there was too much blood. Fake looking, of course, and heaven knew these kids had seen their fair share of blood, but I didn't want to add to that.

"Bloody." Ella chimed in, shuddering. She only liked the Joanna parts 'cause she thought they were romantic. I thought they were stalker-ish.

"Songs were pretty cool," Iggy yawned. Since he didn't get to see most of the blood, he was a little disappointed, but still enjoyed the rest of the movie.

"Interesting." Fang's contribution was as lovely as the rest. He liked the Pirelli scene, though. I knew that much.

"Overall, it was okay." I glared at Gazzy and Nudge as they opened their mouths. "But you kids aren't seeing it until you're older."

"Aww..."

- - - - -

_Angel: When not fighting, what do you do for fun?_

_- - - - - _

"Um. Play with Celeste? Most of the time we're here at Ella's." She frowned, thinking about it.

"Um, Fang was trying to teach me to play _Guitar Hero_ once, but I wasn't too good at it." She beamed at Fang, who smiled back slightly. Aw...

"And then he tried to teach me how to play _Metal Gear Solid_." I saw him visibly flinch at that. I glared at him.

"_Metal Gear Solid, _huh? Why not give her a real gun while we're at it." I growled. Well, at least he had the decency to look apologetic.

- - - - -

_Gazzy: What do you dislike of Angel?_

_- - - - -_

"She has too many powers! It's not fair!" Gazzy pouted, glaring at Angel. She frowned, standing up to face him.

"It's not my fault!" She cried, trying to stare him down. I beamed; she learned that from me. Gazzy fidgeted slightly then stood up.

"Yeah, well, you're weird!" Granted, it wasn't the best comeback out there, but it worked.

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yeah-huh!"

"_Nuh-uh!_"

"_Yeah-huh!"_

"You're_ both_ weird, okay? Just be quiet!" Nudge snapped, looking irritated. Fang and I exchanged a look; who knew she'd be the one to break first?

- - - - -

_Angel: Same as Gazzy._

_- - - - - _

"When he farts, it stinks up everything." She glared at him crossly, hands on her hips. I chuckled slightly.

"She's like a mini-Max," Iggy groaned from the couch. He didn't need to see to know what Angel was doing. "It's like she's Max's mini-me."

"Yeah, well..." Gazzy faltered for a second, then stuck his tongue out at Angel. Well, _that_ worked.

- - - - -

_Max: If the Flock find their families would you let them go?_

_- - - - - -_

"Well, _yeah._ If they wanted to, I wouldn't keep them from it."

Angel looked at me, blue eyes sad. "But I don't wanna leave Max."

"And you don't have to. It's a 'what if' question. It's not really true." But was it? I mean, would I really be able to let them go, just like that? They were my family; it'd almost killed us when Iggy left, and that was only for a few days.

"Yeah, well, if you don't mind, Max, I'll be sticking around with you for a little longer," Iggy muttered gruffly. I nodded and sat down next to him, hugging his side.

"I'd love that, Igs." He wrinkled his nose.

"Yeah, yeah, enough sugar, Max. You're giving me cavities," He snarked. I laughed and hugged him tight for a few seconds, then pulled away. Fang looked at me.

"What? I don't get a hug?" I rolled my eyes.

"No."

"Why not?" He persisted. I looked at Ella, who was smiling at Sean suspiciously.

"Because. You're too far away." He shook his head and walked closer.

"There. I'm closer."

"Meh. I gotta stand up now." He sighed, grabbed my wrists, and pulled me up.

"There. You're up." It was my turn to shake my head.

"My arms hurt too much. I can't lift them" He stared at me for a second, then poked my sides, _hard_.

"Hey!" I yelped, wrapping my arms around me. "That hurt!"

He smirked. "You could have saved yourself the pain and just given me a hug, you know."

I glared at him, then stalked forward and gave him a rough hug. "There! Happy?!"

He chuckled in my ear, making me shiver. "Very."

I flushed, then pulled away, sitting next to Sean. "Jerk. And all for a stupid hug."

- - - -

_Fang: What would you do if Max kissed another guy? What would your reaction be?_

_Angel: Be an angel and read his mind._

_- - - - - -_

Fang shrugged. "Dunno. I'd probably watch as Max beat the guy up." Well, everyone got a good laugh out of _that_ image. I glared at him, opening my mouth. Sean beat me to the punch, though.

"What if she wanted to kiss him?" Fang thought about it for a few seconds before shrugging again.

"Well, I probably wouldn't kill him. _If_ she liked him." I saw his jaw twitch slightly.

"Right..." Nudge and Ella exchanged a look, then rolled their eyes at the same time. Spooky. Everyone then turned to Angel, who blinked at me cutely.

"He's not lying." I raised an eyebrow. You're both bad liars, you know. She beamed at me anyways.

- - - - -

_Everyone: what are your hobbies?_

_From: Kumiko Michyo_

- - - - - - - -

"Soccer!" Ella cheered, smiling brightly. Of course. "And Sean. And _Twilight_."

"Hobbies, Ella. Hobbies. Not obsessions." Iggy called, eyes closed. He was getting awfully lazy. We would have to fix that later. Ella frowned.

"But those _are_ my hobbies!"

"Anyone else?" I asked, rubbing my temples. Gazzy raised a hand.

"Building bombs. And killing Heartless." I blinked. Oh, right, the game.

"Great. Next?"

"Watching Disney Channel!" Nudge, of course.

"Building bombs. And listening to music," Iggy drawled.

"Listening to music. And reading. And blogging," Fang muttered, setting Angel on his lap.

"Playing with Celeste and Total and Akila," Angel cheered, holding her very worn bear close. It's only about a year and a half old; it shouldn't look as bad as it does. Then again, most bears aren't toted around the world.

"Reading. And saving the world." I chuckled, leaning back wearily. It was hard, having a hobby that held the entire world on the line.

"Cool. So, that's it, right?" Sean asked, smiling. I nodded.

"Yep. Should be. Why? Have anything in mind?" He smiled slightly, then glanced out the window.

"Well, sorta. Fang's birthday is in a few days. So... What are we gonna do? Are we doin' a Q and A then?" I shook my head.

"Probably not. Maybe." I shrugged, then glanced at Fang. He frowned slightly.

"I dunno. Maybe. If Max's Voice doesn't decide we need to go on a wild goose chase any time soon." Of course, we weren't meant to have a nice, relaxing week.

_Max?_ I sighed wearily, then glared at Fang.

"You had to say that, didn't you?" _Hello Voice. You have the loveliest timing, you know..._

_You can rest once you save the world, Max_.

_Didn't I already do that?_

_Not at all. You still have a long way to go. Now, I've got some coordinates you need to go to._

_Anywhere near Forks, Washington?_ I asked sarcastically. I'd been on fanfiction: I'd seen the Max Ride/Twiligth crossovers.

_... Actually..._

_Funny, Voice. You're better than Jeb. He didn't have much of a sense of humor._

_I'm not joking, Max._

"Holy cr-- ud you're serious," I gasped out loud, catching myself before I cursed in front of Angel. As if she didn't know enough cuss words.

"What is it, Max?" Ella asked worriedly. I raised a hand, focusing hard.

_Voice? You're seriously making us go to Forks?_

_Well, not _Forks_ specifically, but there's an island off the coast Itex is interested in buying._ I blinked.

"Oh my God, we're going to Forks..." Nudge squealed, eyes wide, and even Fang looked impressed.

_Good luck, Max. This one's going to be pretty difficult_.

_Psh. I'm Maximum Ride, darling. I'm pretty difficult myself._ I sighed. "Okay guys. Go upstairs, pack up. Total, Akila's going to stay here, alright? No blubbering about it either; she's too heavy for us to carry her to Washington."

"D.C?" He asked hopefully. I shook my head.

"State." Then I turned to Fang. "Sorry about your birthday. We'll celebrate once we get back." He nodded, smiling slightly.

"I could always change my birthday." I nodded.

"That's a possibility too."

"Max? You're leaving?" Mom came in, looking sad. I nodded apologetically.

"Yeah. We've got a lead." She frowned, hugging me tightly.

"You better come back soon, Max."

"I will. We've got a birthday to plan, anyways." I glanced pointedly at Fang, who pretended to be enthralled with my mother's carpet.

"And I'm letting Angel and Nudge plan it."

- - - - - -

**So... heh. I know, I know. Ya'll are gonna kill us. But! But! We're trying to save the world. I promise, though, that after this, we'll do Fang's birthday chapter. Even if it kills us. Okay? So... don't hurt us.**

**In the meantime... What do you guys think about the lovely thing the Voice has given us? Anyone wanna try to make a fic outta that? Tell us and we'll go take a look. **

**Fang's yelling at me to get off the computer; we've got to get to Washington in two days -- not an easy trip, I can guarantee that -- so we've got to get moving. Well, again, leave your comments via review, and any questions through PM. Send them either to ****Amaya 24**** or ****Symeria**** and go read Sym's other fics, okay?**

**Ugh, gotta go. Bye! Read and review, please!**

**-Max and the Flock**


	5. Fang's Birthday Chapter!

**The Return of the Q and A! Chapter 5: (Fang's Birthday Chapter!)**

**By Amaya 24**

**Beta: Symeria**

**Well, guys, here it is! It's FANG'S BIRTHDAY!! And of course, we've just gotten back from Washington... :F**

**But, let's not worry about that now. Let's... read on. But, be warned. This baby's **_**long**_**. Then again, it **_**is**_** a birthday chapter so...**

**(And, real quick, please read it ALL, you guys. We don't slave away at this for hours just to have you skim it. PLEASE?)**

**Standard Disclaimer Applies. Meaning we don't own **_**squat.**_

**Oh, and in case any of you haven't read **_**New Moon**_** by Stephenie Meyer, you might just get some spoilers here. You've been warned.**

**- - - - - - -**

"That was... strange." I sighed, smiling as my mother's house came into view. The Flock had just arrived from Forks, and let me tell ya: we all needed a bath _pronto_.

Ella came out to meet us, smiling brightly, with Sean trailing along behind. "Max!"

"Hey Ella. Hi Sean. What's up?" How's _that_ for smooth? We landed gracefully in front of my sister, beaming at her. She gaped at us.

"Well?" She demanded. I glanced at Fang, biting back a laugh. He grinned at me.

"What do you mean, sister?" I asked coyly, skirting around Sean and heading towards the house. Ella shrieked, coming after me. I laughed and dodged her, making her slam unceremoniously into the doorframe. Oops.

"Sorry Ella. Hi Mom! We're back!" I called, walking into the house. Mom walked downstairs, smiling happily at me. A lump formed in my throat; I finally had someone to come back to.

"Max!" She came over and hugged me, then proceeded to smother the rest of the Flock in hugs and kisses (much to the boy's irritation).

"Well, how was it?" Mom asked kindly. I shrugged, then glanced at our muddy clothes.

"Wet."

- - - - - -

After we all cleaned up, we met up in the living room. Ella and Sean were there already, waiting to ambush us.

"Max? If you don't tell me what happened in Forks, I'm going to make you suffer," She vowed. And I know what you're thinking: we've faced Flyboys and Erasers and Go-Bots and all sorts of other stuff; why should this little girl bother us any?

Let me just put it this way: Ella can be terrifying when she wants to be. I sighed, smirking at Nudge. She nodded, then turned to Ella, taking a deep breath.

"We saw..." She trailed off, her attention captivated by a few loose strings on her shirt. Ella growled, staring at us dangerously.

"Spit. It. Out."

"Max, just do it," Iggy sighed, reclaiming his spot on the couch. I glared at him and moved to sit on the armrest, smiling at Ella.

"Forks is wet. First Beach is pretty. That is what I learned on our trip to Forks." I summarized, grinning at Ella brightly. She looked ready to explode. Sean bit back a laugh and proceeded to comfort my sister.

"Well, Ella," Sean murmured, rubbing his girlfriend's back soothingly. "You can't seriously expect the _real_ Edward Cullen to live in Forks. It's just a book." Nudge and I exchanged a look.

"Sean?"

"Oh, right. Well, some books are real. I'm sure Max and Nudge would have told you if they saw anything... weird. Right?" He turned to us. We both nodded, but when they looked away, we both fidgeted awkwardly. We _had_ seen things, of course, but... come on! It was probably just our imagination.

"So, Ella. Any questions for us? Q and A questions, I mean," I added hurriedly. She sighed, nodding into Sean's shoulder.

"From your beta and someone called Rachel. You've got a lot to answer to, you know..."

- - - - - -

_1. As we're dying to know, WHAT HAPPENED IN WASHINGTON?! Did you guys see any Twilight characters, or SCARY representations of them? ;) F_

_- - - - - - _

"Yeah... you know what? I'm gonna write a Forks chapter. Just summarizing everything we did." I mused, moving from the armrest to lean against Fang. He was on the floor, leaning against the wall. When I came over, he scooted over to give me some room.

"You do that, Max. You do that." I glared at him and leaned against his shoulder, feeling tired. That trip was long and cold. Not an easy flight, even for our super-awesome mutant powers.

- - - - - _  
2. Dare Decorate the house so much for Fang's BDay so that you can barely see  
the walls!_

- - - - - -

"Hey, that's right!" I sat up and beamed at Fang. He stared at me impassively.

"You won't do anything too bad, Max. I know you." I shrugged, then glanced at my flock.

"Ange? Nudge? Ella? Have fun," I chuckled, watching as they beamed excitedly at each other. _This_ wasn't gonna be pretty. "Guys, you can help if you want."

Iggy, Gazzy, and Sean shook their heads, staring as the girls shot out of the room.

"Max..." Fang frowned at me, looking irritable. I shrugged.

"It's your _birthday,_ Fang. It doesn't happen every day. That's what you told me, remember? So suck it up; I'm sure it won't be that bad." He rolled his eyes, then slung his arm around my shoulder. I stared at him.

"Fine. But I get to use you as an arm rest." I shrugged. It was a small price to pay. I settled down against him more comfortably, fighting back a blush as Ella, Nudge, and Angel rushed around the house trying to decorate for Fang. Iggy and Sean chuckled.

"Well, this is gonna be fun," Iggy muttered. Gazzy turned to me, blue eyes wide.

"Max, I'm bored; can I play videogames while they do that?" I smiled at him.

"Sure Gazzer. Just don't get too loud, okay?" He nodded and quickly got to work, trying to lecture Sean and Iggy about the game he was about to play.

I yawned, frowning when Fang chuckled. "What?"

"Nothing. That was some trip, huh?" I nodded, biting back another yawn. He laughed again, making me flush.

"Do you still wish you could have seen the werewolves?" I nodded again, smiling.

"Yep. It would have been cool."

"Aren't they like Erasers?" I rolled my eyes.

"Nope." Silence from his end. I sighed. "Yeah. Sorta."

"That's great, Max." I was about to snap back, but then Ella ran in, beaming at us.

"We're almost done, okay?" She muttered in a rush. Sean looked up, staring as Gazzy played his game.

"Don't hurt yourself, Ella." He called out as she rushed out the room again. I shook my head.

- - - - - - _  
_

_3. Question Fang, what's your favourite kind of cake?  
_

_- - - - - -_

Fang shrugged. "Chocolate."

"Three syllables," I sighed, shaking my head. "That's it? Not even a complete sentence?" Fang gave me a sour look.

"Fine, Max. My favorite kind of cake is chocolate. Happy?" I nodded, still leaning against him. I patted his shoulder and squirmed away, standing up. My side felt cold now that I wasn't leaning against him, and I shivered suddenly.

He looked at me, confused, but I just shook my head. "I'm gonna go check on Ella and them."

"Max!" I didn't even have a chance to turn around; Angel tackled me from behind, making me fall on my face. On carpet, thankfully.

"We're done! We're done!"

"That's great, sweetie. Please get off me now."

"Aw..."

- - - - -_  
4. Dare Iggy make said kind of cake._

_- - - - - _

Iggy smirked. "Of course. Anything for _Fang_."

I rolled my eyes at him. "You're birthday's in two months, Igs. I don't see what you're complaining about."

"I better get this kind of treatment when _my_ birthday rolls around, alright? But... don't try to cook anything, Max. We wouldn't want the house to burn down."

"Oh ha ha," I glared at him. He smirked, standing up to slouch to the kitchen. Fang looked up at me, then looked down next to him.

"C'mere, armrest." Oy... I sighed, sitting down again. He was warm, like... I smiled, turning to stare at Ella automatically. She had her Edward; I had my own personal space heater now.

Speaking of her Edward, he was currently turning my sister into a puddle of goo. Now, I wasn't sure _what_ he was saying, but believe me: I didn't want to know. All I could see was that he was dazzling her senseless.

"Sucker." I felt Fang look down at me.

"What?"

"Nothing." Iggy then walked in, a satisfied smile on his face.

"Cake is set. Let's keep going; I wanna see what else we have to do."

- - - - -_  
5. Dare Iggy, Gazzy, Sean Give yourselves frosting goatees for the rest of  
the day! hahha._

- - - - -

Iggy groaned. "Not what I meant..."

Gazzy paused his game and looked up. "Frosting? Like, _food_ frosting, right?"

"Yeah." The little bugger didn't give me to blink; he was in and out of the kitchen with a can of frosting and three spoons in no time.

"I can eat some after, right?" He asked, staring at the can hungrily. I rolled my eyes.

"No. If you do, you're not going to want to eat later." He stared at me like I'd grown two heads.

"Yeah I will."

"Come on, Max, it's _Gazzer_ we're talking about," Iggy muttered, yanking the can from Gazzy's hand and popping the lid open.

"I guess... but not a lot, Gazzy." He beamed at me, blue eyes mischievous. Then Iggy grabbed a spoon and dabbed a great big blob of icing on Gazzy's chin. We chuckled as he beamed brightly, itching to lick it off.

"Here, Sean!" Gaz grabbed another spoon and scooped up more icing, attacking Sean with it. Sean flushed, grimacing.

"And you too, Iggy!" I laughed.

"You guys look very distinguished," I called, staring up at Fang. He was smirking at them. "Don't you want one, Fang?"

"Nope. And don't even think about it, Max; it's my birthday."

"Party pooper."

_- - - - -  
6. Question Nudge and Ella Who would you rather date from Harry Potter, Harry  
or Ron? (I'd say Ron personally, he's just so adorkable, you gotta luv him!  
XD)_

_- - - - - - _

"Ew, neither," Nudge complained, sticking her tongue out to express her disgust. Ella, however, laughed.

"Adorkable," She chuckled. "I love that." Sean frowned.

"Thanks, Ella. Really." She frowned, staring at Sean.

"Well, I mean, if it was between you and those two, I'd obviously pick you!" Sean smirked, shaking his head.

"Of course you would," He muttered, pretending to be hurt. Ella rolled her eyes at me and hugged Sean, kissing his cheek. He pouted unconvincingly.

"But seriously, Ella. Who would you choose?" She frowned, thinking about it.

"Ron. Harry's too... ugh..." She shuddered. I laughed at them.

- - - - - _  
7. Dare Whoever wants to participate except for Fang unless he wants to  
Reinact "The Mysterious ticking noise"!  
(I LOVED YOUR REFERENCE! This video makes me laugh SO HARD!)_

_- - - - - _

Gazzy raised his hand. "Oh! Me! Me! I wanna!"

"Fine, Gazzer. You can be in it." Nudge blinked.

"Me too!" Angel nodded, smiling. Ella looked around.

"Who's gonna be who?" I shrugged. I hadn't even seen the video.

"I wanna be Dumbledore!" Gazzy shouted, beaming. Ella and Nudge snickered, sharing a private joke. Oh, dear...

"I'll be Snape, then," Nudge offered, smiling.

"I'll be... hey, wait." Ella frowned. "We need someone else to help. We're missing Ron and Voldemort." She turned to stare at Total hopefully. He sighed.

"Fine... I'll be Ron," He grumbled, walking away from Akila. Ella beamed, then turned her Bambi gaze on Sean. He rolled his eyes.

"I'll be Voldemort..."

"Great! Angel can be Harry, and I'll be Hermione." Angel pouted.

"How come you get to be the girl?"

"Because I said so."

"But that's no _fair!!_" I rolled my eyes.

"Don't fight, guys. Just... yeah." Gazzy smirked, raring to go. He cleared his throat, then frowned.

"Wait, Snape goes first!" Nudge grinned, clearing _her_ throat.

"'Hmm... What _is_ that mysterious ticking noise?'" She asked in a very bad British accent. I stifled a laugh. "'Not over here... Not over there...It's kinda... catchy...'"

"'Snape, Snape. Severus Snape. Snape, Snape, Severus Snape..."

"Dumbledore!" Gazzy cried, popping up randomly. Nudge continued with her little Snape chant, with Gazzy interjecting once in a while.

"Snape, Snape, Severus Snape..."

"Dumbledore!"

"Snape, Snape, Severus Snape..."

"Dumbledore!"

"Snape..."

"Ron!"

"Snape..."

"Ron!"

"Severus Snape..."

"Ron Weasley!"

"Dumbledore!"

"Snape..."

"Ron!"

"Snape..."

"Ron!"

"Severus Snape."

"Ron Weasley!"

"Dumbledore!" I swear, Gazzy was enjoying himself too much.

"Snape..."

"Ron!"

"Hermione!" Ella giggled, ruining the whole... continuity of the thing.

"Snape!"

"Ron!"

"Severus Snape..."

"Ron Weasley!"

"Hermione!"

"Dumbledore!"

"Snape."

"Ron!"

"Hermione!"

"Snape."

"Ron!"

"Hermione!"

"Severus Snape..."

"Dumbledore!" I rolled my eyes. It was like a train wreck. A loud, irritating little train wreck. That just wouldn't stop...

"Snape!"

"Ron!"

"Hermione!"

"Snape."

"Ron!"

"Severus Snape."

"Ron Weasley!"

"Hermione!"

"Harry Potter!" I groaned. Oh no...

"Harry Potter! Ooh! Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Yeah!" My brain... Fang snickered, his shoulder digging into mine.

"Harry Potter, Harry Potter! Ooh! Harry Potter, Harry Potter! That's me!"

"Dumbledore!" Angel and Nudge exchanged a small look before standing next to each other.

"Snape!" Nudge declared, stepping forward.

"Harry!" Angel mimicked her.

"Snape!"

"Harry!"

"Snape!"

"Harry!"

"Snape!"

"Harry!"

"Snape!"

"Harry!"

Gazzy cackled and streaked between them, his shirt off. I blinked. Oookay...

_"DUMBLEDORE!"_

Ella giggled. "... Hermione!"

"Dumbledore!"

"Snape."

"Ron,"

"Hermione..."

"Snape,"

"Ron,"

"Severus Snape..."

"Ron Weasley!"

"Hermione!"

"Harry Potter! I'm Harry Potter! I'm Harry Potter! Harry, Harry Potter!" I groaned.

"When will this end...?"

"Singing our song, all day long at_ Hooooooooooooogwarts_! Yeah!" Everyone sang, making me shut my eyes at the sheer craziness of it all.

"Hey! I found the source of the ticking! It's a Pipe Bomb!" Ella cried in a really bad falsetto voice. 'Snape' and 'Dumbledore' turned to stare at each other.

"Yay!" Harry, Ron, and Hermione shouted. Then... _Boom!_ Courtesy of Iggy. Everyone 'died'.

"Yay! It's over?" Ella shot me an annoyed look.

"No."

"Aw..." Sean smirked at me and gave an 'evil' laugh.

"'Voldemort, Voldemort, ooh volde- volde, volde, Voldemort!" Even though the boy only spoke _one line_, he pulled off an awesome accent. Very, very well, might I add.

Silence reigned in the living room for a second before I piped up. "So... it's over _now_, right?"

- - - - - -_  
8. Question Fang what has been your favourite birthday up till now? Do you  
feel older turning fifteen?  
- - - - - - _

Fang frowned slightly. "Well, it's not like we've too many good birthdays, you know?" We did, sadly. "Well, this one isn't that bad. It's better than the one I had at Anne's house."

"Oh, the impromptu one she made for us? Yeah. That was horrible." And thankfully cut from the book; now that's something _no_ _one_ should have to experience.

"Yeah. And... no? I don't feel any different." He shrugged, his arm slipping off my shoulder for a second. I stared at him.

"Not at all?"

"Nope."

"... Weirdo." Fang just rolled his eyes.

"We can't all be as special as you, Max."

"That's rig-- hey!"

- - - - - - _  
9. Question Nudge Do you enjoy my British spelling of "Favourite?"_

_- - - - - _

"Yeppers! I love it!" She beamed, smiling happily. Wow, it doesn't take a lot to make these kids happy, huh?

"Well, I think it's quite lovely," Gazzy said, in, what else? A British accent. I sighed.

"Again, Gazzer? I thought we went through this before..." Fang chuckled.

"Aw, what's the matter, Max? You don't like accents?" He whispered in my ear, making me shudder. Damn him and his stupid accents...

"Accents are fine, Fang. It's when people use them like _that_... that's what I don't like." Fang smirked; I could _feel_ it.

"Of course, Max. Of course."

I slapped his shoulder half-heartedly. "Drop the accent!"

"Make me."

"I'm warning you, Fang..."

"Ooh. I'm terrified." I rolled my eyes, trying to keep from hitting him. Best friends are irritating as hell sometimes. Especially when they're using accents to bring you down.

- - - - - - _  
10. Question Nudge, Ella, and Max How do you guys like my Vamptastic smiley?  
F_

_- - - - - -_

Ella laughed when Nudge squealed. Then again, most of us did too. "I love it!"

"We can tell, Nudge. No need to blow out our eardrums," Iggy groused from the kitchen as he went back to check on the cake. Nudge stuck her tongue out after him.

"I'm sticking my tongue out at you, Iggy!"

"And I can't see it."

"Meh," She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. I shook my head.

"Smiley, Nudge. Vampire smiley." She smiled again. Huh. That was easy.

"I liked it too," Ella grinned at me. I made a face.

"It was okay. But I'd rather have a werewolf one." Ella rolled her eyes.

"You and your mutts..." Total growled a bit, which got Akila going. Lovely.

- - - - - -_  
11. Question Fang, Iggy, and Sean Linkin Park or Three days Grace?_

_- - - - -_

Fang considered it carefully. "Well, Linkin Parks' always been good, but their last CD was a bit... meh." He shrugged. "So, Three Days Grace."

"Three Days Grace. No contest," Sean muttered, messing up his Edward hair. I swear, Stephenie Meyer should patent those things.

"Linkin Park," Iggy countered, smirking. "It's the best of both worlds, man. Rap and rock. Most people never thought they'd see the day..."

I shared at look with Nudge and Ella. "Good grief..."

"Dude, Three Days Grace is better! Linkin Park's going downhill now..."

"Are you _nuts_? Have you been taking Max's special pills?" I ignored that comment.

"You're both nuts."

"Says the caveman!"

"Guys..."

"Hey, shut up, alright? He may be a caveman, but he's our caveman!"

"Guys..."

"I'm touched..."

Nudge frowned, cocking her head. "I thought you guys were fighting about _bands_."

The guys stared at each other. "Linkin Park rules!"

"Freak! Three Days Grace all the way!"

"Yeah? Well... Flyleaf owns all of them!" I snapped as their argument escalated further.

All three stopped to stare at me like I'd gone crazy.

"Flyleaf? No _way_ does Flyleaf beat Linkin Park _or _Three Days Grace!"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah!"

"Glad you guys could agree on something..." I sighed, leaning back. They were giving me

a migraine...

- - - - - _  
12. Dare Total Sing Happy birthday to Fang!_

_- - - - - -_

Total cleared his throat rather professionally, trotting around the room to stand before Fang. I was now lying on the floor next to him, staring at Total.

"_Happy Birthday to you..."_ Total sang; I coughed, trying not to laugh. Iggy, however, DID laugh.

_"Happy Birthday to you..."_

"It's 'Happy Birthday', not an opera, Total," I heard Iggy mutter. I couldn't blame him, though: Total was treating this like... dunno. What's a good opera? _Carmen?_ He was treating it like... that opera guy whose name just left my brain...

"_Happy Birthday, dear Faaaaannnggg... Happy Birthday to you..."_ We all clapped madly -- not in response to his singing, but to his _stopping_ -- and Total bowed. Ella smirked, and Mom walked in, holding a giant cake. I whistled.

"Wow, Iggy. You really outdid yourself this time," I stared at the cake, licking my lips in anticipation. Fang rolled his eyes.

"It's my cake, Max. Not yours," He pointed out, standing up. I shrugged. Hasn't stopped me before.

"_Estas son las mananitas que cantaba el Rey David, a los muchachos bonitos se las cantamos asi; despierta mi bien despierta; mira que ya amanecio y ya los pajarillos cantan; la luna ya se metio."_ I stared, kind of shocked. I wasn't the only one, thankfully. Mom gave me a reproachful look as she began cutting the cake.

"Don't look so surprised, Max. We're Hispanic, remember? It's tradition." Nudge stared at my mother and Ella, awed.

"What _was_ that?" She asked, barely registering the slice of cake in her possession. Ella laughed, hugging Sean tightly.

"Happy Birthday. There's another version, you know." She beamed, smiling as the cake was passed around. Fang looked a bit flushed, but I wasn't sure if it was the song or the attention in general.

"Thank you," He muttered in that lovely, touchy-feely way of his. I sighed. There was no helping that boy.

- - - - - _  
13. DareSean do your BEST Edward impression Part 2: Iggy and Fang, hold back  
Nudge. Tie her to a chair, whatever you have to. we DO NOT want Ella mad at  
nudge when Nudge attempts to steal her boyfriend without thinking because of  
her Edward fangirliness.  
- - - - - - _

Ella laughed. "I won't be mad." Sean rolled his eyes and fixed his Edward hair. Then he shot my sister a crooked smile. That just about did Nudge in.

"_OHEMCEE!!_" She squealed, struggling against Fang and Iggy. They exchanged a small look (though, you know, Iggy didn't see it) and held her back. I bit back a laugh.

"Keep going," I hissed at Sean, who's smirk widened. Nudge jerked against Fang, her eyes crazed. This little girl was beyond obsessed; if she ever saw the real Edward Cullen, she'd hug the guy to death. Or re-death.

"Ella? Help me out here, yeah?" He cleared his throat, then smiled. Phew... I gotta tell ya, that boy does a _brilliant_ Edward smile. Ella blushed, then nodded, covering her face with a cushion. Sean pulled it away, giving her a crooked grin. Nudge squealed, making Total grimace.

"'If you don't mind, I'd prefer it if you didn't hide your face underneath that. I've lived without it as long as I could; now, tell me something.'" Sean muttered, a light accent in his words.

"'What?'" Ella asked, a bit irritated. Guess she was trying to be a good Bella.

"'If someone were to grant you one wish, anything at all, what would you ask for?'" Now, I know this wasn't the exact words, but it worked. Even Gazzy was watching.

"'You.'" Ella whispered, her cheeks flaring almost painfully. Sean shook his head impatiently.

"'Something you don't already have.'" Ella frowned.

"'I... would like it if ..." She looked around the room quickly, then smiled. "If Iggy wasn't the one who... did it... I wish you'd be the one that changed me...'" Sean pulled a look that I think was supposed to be thoughtful. Iggy blinked at the mention of his name, but shrugged.

"'What would you be willing to give in exchange?'" Ella's mouth fell open in surprise.

"'Anything.'" Sean smiled slightly.

"'Five years?'" Ella shook her head vigorously. "'You said _anything_.'"

"Yeah, but you're going to use the time to find a way to get out of changing me. I have to take advantage of the opportunity now that I have it. Besides, it's too dangerous being human, at least for me. So, anything but that." I nodded in approval; if Ella's school ever decided to make _Twilight_ a play, my sister would definitely get Bella's part.

"Three years?" Ella looked scandalized.

"No!"

"Isn't it worth it?"

"Six months." Sean's face went blank.

"It's not enough." Ella sighed.

"In that case... one year. That's my final offer." Sean looked at her pleadingly. I wanted to hug him.

"Give me at least two." Nudge was sitting quietly in her chair, with Fang and Iggy only restraining her slightly. She was staring at the scene with wide eyes.

Ella shook her head. "No way. I'm turning nineteen, but I am _not_ getting anywhere near twenty! If you have to stay in your teens forever, then I will too." Sean frowned, thinking about it.

"Very well then. Let's forget about the time limits. If you want me to be the one to change you, you have to accept one condition." He had a crafty look in his eyes.

"Condition?" Ella echoed, frowning slightly. "What condition?"

"Marry me first." Sean spoke slowly, almost cautiously. Ella blinked.

"You're joking." Sean sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"You're bruising my ego, Ella," He murmured, replacing Bella's name with my sister's. "I've just asked you to marry me and you think I'm joking."

Ella blinked, breathing a bit out of whack. "Sean, please, be serious."

"I'm being completely serious," Sean said, his face, well, _serious_. I needed some popcorn; this was good!

"Oh, come on!" Ella said, her voice slightly hysterical. "I'm only eighteen!"

"Well, I'm about to turn one-hundred and seven. I think it's about time I settled down." Ella looked away, avoiding Sean's gaze. Nudge yelped, but Iggy slammed his hand over her mouth.

"Shh. This is getting interesting." Sean smirked, breaking character for a second. Then he glanced at Ella.

"Let's get this moving, shall we?" She nodded, then frowned, trying to figure out where she was.

"You see, marriage doesn't exactly... figure in my list of priorities, you know? It was kind of like the kiss of death for my mom and dad." Sean chuckled.

"Interesting choice of words." Ella rolled her eyes.

"You know what I mean."

Sean breathed in deeply. "Please don't tell me you're afraid of commitment." Ella flushed.

"No... it's not that, exactly..." She stalled. "I'm more afraid of what Mom's going to say. She's got a lot of convictions when it comes to getting married before thirty." Sean sighed.

"So you'd rather become one of the eternally damned than a married woman?" He chuckled darkly.

"You think you're so funny..."

"Ella," Again, Nudge squealed. "There is no comparison between the level of commitment of a marital union and the renouncing of a soul in exchange of turning you into a vampire for all eternity..." Sean shook his head. "If you're not brave enough to marry me, then..."

Ella frowned. "Well, what happens if I do? If I said to take me to Las Vegas right now? Would I be a vampire in three days?" She demanded. Sean chuckled.

"Sure. I'll go get my car." Nudge couldn't take it anymore: she shot from her seat before Fang or Iggy could hold her back and tackled Ella and Sean into a huge hug.

Sean laughed, and the whole... _mood_ shifted. It was seriously like a movie; sure, Sean and Ella didn't look exactly like Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, but the chemistry... whew! I shook my head, shivers running down my spine.

Fang chuckled behind me, making me blink. When did he get here? "How was it?"

"Very awesome. I can't wait til someone else dares us to do something like that again."

- - - - - - -_  
14. Question Max Have you ever contemplated that Werewolves are kinda like  
Erasers?  
- - - - - - - _

"Yeah," I sighed, leaning back. "A lot, really. But werewolves are more civilized than Erasers. And Erasers look more like the Hollywood werewolves. The La Push guys are just really, really big wolves."

"They still sound like Erasers to me." Iggy complained. I shrugged.

"When Erasers morphed back, they had their clothes on. Werewolves don't." I felt my face heat up at the thought. Ella laughed. I plowed on anyways.

"And Erasers had normal body temperatures; the Quileutes are normally at 100 degrees, or more." Iggy rolled his eyes, digging into another piece of cake.

"You seem to know a lot about this, Max." I glared at him.

"Shut up, Iggy. Just shut up."

"Just stating a fact, Max..."

"You're going to find firecrackers in your bed one of these days..."

"Sure, Max. Threaten the pyro with _more_ explosives," Fang chuckled, looking down at me. I shrugged as best as I could on the floor, balancing my third slice of cake on my stomach. Yes _third;_ it was _that_ good.

- - - - - - _  
15. Dare Max Give Fang a really sappy birthday toast. Yes, you have to.  
Cowers And you have to mean it. I'm not daring you to say you love him or  
anything, just give a heartfelt birthday toast at dinner._

_- - - - - _

"Ah, fun," I sighed, smirking. Fang shook his head, looking for an exit. I cleared my throat and sat up.

"A toast, to Fang," I raised my coke can in the air, and a few others (mainly the younger kids) followed. Ella laughed and raised her hand, pretending to hold a glass in her hands. I rolled my eyes, then sighed again.

"To the best cult leader in the world, may his followers not go crazy and stalk him." Sean and Iggy chuckled.

"Hear, hear!" I rolled my eyes and waited for them to stop snickering. Then continued.

"Alright, one dose of sappy coming right up..." I sighed again, trying to think of something.

"Oh, okay. Uh..." Iggy laughed.

"Great toast, Max." I glared at him.

"Shut up. Okay. Fang, you've been the best second-in-command a mutant bird kid on the run could have. Sure, we've fought a lot. And even when you got on my nerves so much I wanted to smack you, I knew you still had my back. So, thanks, Fang." I leaned over and hugged him, fighting back a blush.

"Aw..." I turned to glare at Ella.

"Sister? Sappy enough?" She shrugged.

"Hm... I don't know..." Iggy rolled his eyes.

"Any sappier and I'd gag, Max." Gazzy nodded, his eyes glazed as he clacked expertly on the black controller.

"Thanks, Igs. Nice to know."

- - - - - - - _  
Hey Flock friends,_

Just a few questions and a REQUEST, not a dare. I'm in a nice mood today.  
1. Ok, so Flock Girls (Although, mostly Ella and Max...): Would you rather  
have had a normal life and meet Edward/Jacob OR would you want to keep your  
current life and be with the guys you are with now? (And, I'm sorry, Max,  
but that does count as Fang.)

_- - - - -_

I sucked in a breath, playing with my empty coke can. "Tough one..." I put my hands out like a balance, thinking.

"On one hand, no wings. No hellish experiments, and no Flock." I moved my right hand down and my left one up.

"Buuuttt... we have tall, handsome, _hot_ werewolves." I moved my hand up slightly. Fang grimaced.

"On the other, we have wings. We have mad scientists baying for our blood. We have psycho directors and Plexiglas boxes filled with tissues itching to watch us go _kablooey_. But we also have the Flock." I shrugged, staring at my Flock. "Dunno. What about you, Ella?"

Ella frowned. "You know, Max, compared to me, your... uh... 'would you rather' seems kinda... extreme." I shrugged.

"What would you choose, Ella?" I muttered.

"Dunno..." She flushed, making Sean chuckle.

"She'd obviously pick Edward," He answered for her, hugging her tightly. Wow. Talk about understanding... Ella blushed even harder. Nudge laughed.

"Ohemcee!" She squealed, beaming at everyone. "I would totally, completely, absolutely, positively choose _Edward!_" She squirmed under our stares.

"Well, I mean, I _love_ having wings, right? I totally love flying and swooping and-- well, yeah! But, I don't like being chased and stuff by the whitecoats and stuff!" I raised a hand to stop her.

"No one really does, sweetie. We get it. But remember, you only get to _meet_ them, not move in with them."

"Aw... I know, but still! It'd be better than being attacked my whitecoats and Go-Bots and stuff!"

Sean stifled a laugh. "Actually, you'd still be attacked. Rogue vampires, the Volturi, and the werewolves aren't exactly a picnic."

Nudge frowned. "I guess..."

Fang poked me. "You didn't answer, Max."

"Yeah, well... I'm undecided..." He smirked.

"Liar."

"Jerk."

"Quit avoiding the subject and answer, Max."

"No."

"Do it, Max."

"_Make me_, Fang."

"My pleasure." Then he proceeded to attack my sides, tickling me mercilessly. I yelped, trying to squirm away from him. Needless to say, I failed.

"N-no! Please _I'll do anything..._"

"Answer then."

"O-okay..." I coughed, wiping the tears from my eyes. "I'd keep my life as is. I don't need to mess with the mythical stuff right now."

Angel blinked, looking at me out of the corner of her eye before plucking Total away from Akila to use him as a pillow.

- - - - - -_  
2. (For all of you) Do you think that vamps (In Twilight) have souls?  
Why/Whynot?_

_- - - - - _

"Do vampires have souls?" I muttered, tapping my index finger against my cheek. "No clue. Next?"

Ella glared at me. "Answer the question, Max." I groaned.

"Why are you guys so mean?" I whined, chugging back another can of coke. Gazzy burped.

"It won't kill you to answer the question, Max." Ella pointed out. I grimaced.

"Well it's true. I don't know. Never met a vampire before, so I don't know if they have souls or not. Next!"

Nudge thought about it carefully. "Actually, I think they do."

Ella smiled, happy that someone was cooperating. "Elaborate, please."

"Well, they're conscious of what they're doin'. They know what's right, and what's wrong," Nudge muttered slowly. "And they're willing to go at any length to do the right thing."

"But that doesn't mean they have souls. They can just be territorial." Iggy pointed out, lying down on the floor next to Gazzy. Nudge frowned.

"Well, there's a difference, right?"

"And just 'cause they know what they're doing doesn't mean they have a soul," Sean pointed out. Ella made a face.

"Soul..." I mused. "Well, what's a soul, really?"

Fang rolled his eyes. "If we look it up, will you wrap this up?" Much nodding from those of us who were really participating in the conversation. Total, Gazzy, and Angel shrugged, and Ange began a game of blackjack with our Scottie.

Quietly, Fang stood up and looked for a dictionary. "Let's see..."

"Okay. A soul is 'the nonphysical aspect of person'... huh. That doesn't explain much. 'The complex of human attributes that manifests as consciousness, thought, feeling, and will, regarded as distinct from the physical body...'" He looked up.

"Nudge was sorta right then." Nudge beamed.

"Anything else, Fang?" I asked. He nodded, squinting at the thick red dictionary in his hands.

"'A person's emotional and moral nature, where the most private thoughts and feelings are hidden; spirit surviving death, or spiritual depth.'"

"Now then... uh, how does this answer our question?" I asked. Ella shrugged.

"Dunno."

"Well, I guess Nudge was right, then."

"For once..." I glared at Iggy, then sighed; it was a lost cause.

- - - - - -

_3. Would you rather have a vampire, or your own personal space  
heater I mean werewolf?_

_- - - - - _

"Space heater!" I called, smiling. "I can't _stand_ the cold."

"Meh. Vampire! They sparkle in the sunlight."

"Who cares? Sparkling is so... girly."

"You take that back, Max!"

"Make me, Ella!"

"Mutt lover!"

"Oh, I'm _sorry_. Was that supposed to be an insult?"

"Shut up!" _Whack._

"Oh, no you don't! You aren't gonna hit me and get away with it!"

"Meh! Mutt lover, mutt lover!"

"Fang banger!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... Excuse me?"

"Sorry Fang. Not you."

_Snickers_. "_Fang_ banger..."

"Shut up, Iggy..."

"Yeah, Igs. Can it!"

"... I'm confused..."

"Um, Max? Ella? I kinda like the vampires too..."

"Nudge!"

"Yay! Nudge's on my side!"

"What _side?!_ There _are_ no _sides_!"

"Team Edward forever!"

"... Don't make me hurt you, sister."

"Hey, Fang?"

"Yeah Igs?"

"D'you think they'll mind if we throw mud on them?"

"..."

"..."

"... Iggy? Run."

"..."

"Hocrap..."

"..."

"... What was the question?"

"Don't worry about it, Gazzer. Just get back to your game."

- - - - - -

_4. Hey, Fang...Eh, nvm, I'll wait. I WAS going to dare you to do something,  
but instead I'll ASK YOU NICELY to MAYBE do something for me later..._

_5. How hot is it where you guys are? Where I am we've had a lot of fires  
because it's been so hot/dry lately...I hope you guys get a relief from  
theheat!_

_- - - - - - - _

"Very hot," I sighed, fanning myself with my hand. Sure I was snuggling into my best

friend (and the couch), but still, hot temperatures are hot temperatures.

"Brush fire hot," Ella added. I nodded, then smirked.

"Werewolf hot." Sean rolled his eyes.

"Cooking an egg on the sidewalk hot." Iggy put in, smirking. I frowned.

"Melting asphalt hot." Sean shot back, smiling at Ella.

"Fiery pits of hell hot." I stared at Gazzy.

"Lovely, Gazzy." Strangest thing? He hadn't looked away from his game. At all.

"Victoria's hair hot!" Then I turned to stare at Nudge.

"Sweetie, that didn't make sense at all." She shrugged, happy to have put in her own _Twilight _thing anyways.

"We get it; it's hot," Fang muttered, fairly loud. We all grimaced with varying degrees of embarrassment.

- - - - - -

_6. Final question (for now) is: What are some of the worst flying  
conditions you've been in?  
- - - - - _

I thought about it for a second. "Well, dust storms are pretty bad. All sorts of stuff gets in your eyes."

"Fog. No visibility whatsoever." Fang, of course. It hurts him to speak in complete sentences. Iggy snorted.

"Are you nuts? Thunderstorms are worse! One false move and_ poof!_ Human-avian popcorn!"

"Iggy..." I sighed, blinking away that image.

"Hurricanes are worse! 'Member the one in Florida? My wings were hurting for weeks!" Nudge chimed in, still recovering from our little _Twilight _fight. Gazzy looked up, another slice of cake in hand.

"Hail. It really hurts!" He murmured, frowning at his cake and at the game. He couldn't play and eat at the same time. He shrugged and stuck a fork in his cake, un-paused the game, and proceeded to kill a few monsters. Soon as he cleared them, he paused again and ate a big chunk of cake.

Angel sighed, yawning. The poor baby hadn't had much input in this lately, and even though the party and stuff had kept her busy, she was still bored. She looked up at me, smiling slightly.

_Sweetie? How about you get Fang's things ready? We haven't done presents yet..._ She nodded and walked out the door. Fang looked at me.

"Where's she going?"

"Nowhere." I smirked.

- - - - - -_  
I'm so sorry for this, Max, Fang...But I'm a little, eleven year old with no  
real life "aw" moments. I get them all from reading.  
I'm not asking for FAX, I'm just asking for Aww moments. Not OME (SQUEE)  
things. So, I'm just asking. I just want ONE cute thing from you two (Fang  
and Max), without any loopholes, evading the thing, or Angel's mind  
reading/controlling. (Sorry, Angel, but I want to be fair to them.)_

Please? Would it seriously be that bad? Is the idea so sickening that you'd  
deprive a birthday girl of a few paragraphs of happiness?

Whether you do it or not, happy Q and Aing. Talk to ya later, Rachel.

_- - - - - - -_

I stared at Fang, shrugging. Aw moments? I wrinkled my nose; this wasn't a _Pay-per-View _or_ On Demand _thing. We can't just _force_ ourselves to act mushy and... lovey. That's why people make fanfictions; because _we_ won't do what they want us to.

"Jeez..." I sighed, leaning back against the couch. 'Aw' moments were hard to come by, even in normal situations. Like... Fang and one of the younger kids bonding. Or... dunno. Something like that.

"How about it, Max?" I looked up. He couldn't honestly be serious.

"Eh... wha?" He smirked, making me shake my head. Damn him and his dazzling-ness...

"Uh..." Right then, Angel walked in, carrying an armful of wrapped presents. I grinned at Fang's surprised look. "Aw, come on, Fang. You didn't expect us to just leave things like that, did you?"

Ella nodded, smiling. "What's a birthday party without presents?"

The younger kids cheered, and Gazzy even paused his game long enough to trot over to me. "Me first!"

He dug through the mound of presents and found one wrapped in newspaper funnies. He was actually planning on using real wrapping paper, but he forgot, and when the time came, there was nothing left. So he jacked my mother's newspaper. Well, at least he was resourceful.

Flushing nervously, he handed Fang the book-sized box. "Here..."

Fang smiled at him reassuringly. "Thanks, Gasman." He pulled at the wrappings slowly, trying not to rip the paper. Sean rolled his eyes.

"Any slower there, Fang?" Fang smirked and popped the box open. Inside, nestled between wadded-up pieces of white crepe paper, was a fluorescent-green book. I squinted.

"Hey," Fang's tone was surprised. "That's the sequel to the book I was reading..." Gazzy nodded, shuffling slightly.

"Thanks, Gasman," Fang repeated, patting Gazzy's shoulder. I shook my head, then smiled when Angel tottered over, rubbing her eyes and holding a white-wrapped box.

"Here Fang!" She chirped, handing Fang the box and climbing on his lap. Fang smiled, making the whole world a little brighter.

"Hey, thanks kiddo," He murmured, picking at the wrappings. Then he looked at Angel. "You wanna do it?"

Angel fell onto the box like a piranha upon a cow. Then, after the carnage was over, she handed Fang a medium-sized box, smiling. I blinked, watching little strips of paper flutter down to the ground.

Fang smiled at her again and opened the box, the blood draining from his face. Then he gulped and pulled something white out. I blinked. "Angel?"

She looked at me, her blue eyes wide and innocent-looking. "Yeah?"

"You got Fang a present for _you_." Fang was holding what seemed to be a white unicorn. With white, glittery wings. He stared at it for a second, then turned to Angel.

"Why don't you take care of it for me?" He handed her the unicorn/Pegasus thing and Angel beamed.

"Okay!" She kissed Fang's cheek, then slipped off his lap, ready to play with her new toy. Oy vey...

"Uh... Next?" Nudge jumped up and grabbed a purple-wrapped... thing and handed it to Fang, talking quickly.

"I was _so_ not sure on what to get you, 'cause, I mean, come on! We're always on the run, so we can't get normal things like TVs and DVDs and stuff. Well, would watch DVDs on your laptop, right? But still, it's not the same thing. So, like, I asked Max for help--" Here Fang turned to look at me curiously. I shrugged. "But she had no idea what to get you either, so I tried to figure it out on my own and..."

Sean chuckled. "Nudge, why don't we just let him open his present?" Nudge blinked, surprised, but nodded.

Fang shot Sean a grateful look and tore open the purple paper. Inside, something black was nestled inside. "Huh. Wow, thanks, Nudge."

Nudge beamed as Fang pulled out a black t-shirt, holding it against his shirt. It was pretty cool-- _Linkin Park_ was stamped in grey along the side, and the CD's newest logo (the LP in a little circle) was printed on the top left. It looked really cool, actually.

"No problem! When I saw it, I _knew_ I had to get it for you!" She leaned over and hugged Fang, kissing his cheek like Angel had. Then she moved back to give the rest of us a chance to bask in the spotlight.

Iggy stepped forward, tossing him a small black box like a throwing star. Fang caught it, raising an eyebrow. "Thanks, Igs."

"Sure, F-Nick." He slouched back, sightless eyes pinned on Fang eerily. Fang chuckled, ripping the paper open. A small silver key glinted slightly in the light.

"Whoa..." I frowned.

"What is it?" Iggy grinned evilly.

"It's a skeleton key. It can open any lock as long as it's not too complicated. You know, in case I'm not around to bail you guys out." I was impressed, and a bit worried.

"Hey, thanks, man." Iggy shrugged, embarrassed, and walked back. Sean tossed a tiny blue box at Fang, smirking widely. Fang blinked, pulling the paper off.

Inside was a bundle of plastic baggies with coils of silver wire inside. Next to that was another plastic bag, this one filled with different colored guitar picks. "Thanks Sean."

"Yeah. You're also gettin' my guitar, man." Fang blinked.

"Really?" He actually looked surprised, which is no easy feat for Fang. "You're _giving _it to me?" Sean nodded.

"Yup. You're getting my SG." Fang coughed, embarrassed.

"You sure?" Sean nodded.

"I'm getting a Les Paul next week, so I decided to give you my old one." I stared at Ella, bored. Guitar talk didn't interest me much.

"Wow... I don't know what to say..." Fang stared at the red and black guitar that had been shoved into a corner when not being used. Sean chuckled.

"Nothing. Just don't kill it on your crazy adventures." Fang shrugged.

"Guess I'll just have to leave it here whenever Max's Voice decides to try and kill us again." I frowned.

"It's not _my_ fault," I scowled, crossing my arms. They ignored me. Jerks. Ella laughed, hugging her boyfriend before handing Fang a red box. He smiled at her slightly before tearing the box open. Then he looked up at me before smirking.

"Max, I've got my guitar. If Ella got me world peace, then _you_ owe me an M3." He joked, pulling the box open. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, Fang. I got a fifteen-year old mutant a Mercedes. Who do you think I am?"

"Well," Ella giggled. "It's not world peace..." Fang tipped the box over slightly and blinked.

"Cool," I muttered, leaning over to look. _Atreyu's_ newest CD was up first, the red cover displaying a sinking ship in black water. Also in the water was a skeleton. Lovely, of course. But their music was good...

After that was _Puddle of Mudd_'s CD, the one with _Famous _and _Psycho_ in it. It was pretty cool.

"I know it's not much," Ella muttered, blushing slightly. "but..."

Fang shook his head. "It's great. Thanks Ella." He smiled at her, making my sister smile at him thankfully. Total coughed, pushing an elaborately-decorated black and white box at Fang.

"From me and Akila," He declared. Where the little dog had gotten his gift, I had no idea. Seriously. Fang nodded, smiling slightly before tearing into the paper.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel surrounding something and whispering excitedly to each other. _What are they up to now?_

Angel's head shot up and she looked at me, beaming. _Don't worry about it, Max. It's nothing bad._

I'm so sure. I shook my head and turned back to Fang, who was staring at the flat case in his hands questioningly. I looked at him and swiped the case from his hands.

"_Pavarotti_?" I stared at Total, who seemed pretty pleased with himself. I chuckled at Fang, and he made a face at me.

"Uh... thanks, Total." He muttered graciously. I had the feeling that he was going to conveniently 'lose' that thing as soon as he could.

Total nodded, licked Fang, and trotted off to help Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel in whatever they were doing.

Fang blinked at the CD Total had given him once more and turned to me. "My car?"

"Oh, funny. _No_." I crossed my arms over my chest, staring down at him sourly. He looked up at me.

"Please? It doesn't even have to be a Mercedes. It can be an Audi. Wouldn't _you_ like and Audi too, Max?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Doesn't an Audi cost more than a Mercedes?" Ella asked, laughing.

"Depends on the car." Sean murmured, kissing my sister's cheek. Fang nodded, his eyes glued to me.

"Or, you can get me a BMW..."

"Ha!"

"A Spyder?"

"You want a spider? Go out there and get it." I pointed out the window at the small forest surrounding Mom's house. Fang rolled his eyes.

"A _Spyder_ is a Maserati. A very cool car." I felt my eyes narrow.

"No way."

"A Lamborghini then."

"What part of 'no' do you not understand?"

"Lexus?"

"Nope."

"Lincoln?"

"_Nein_."

"A Porsche?"

"Never."

"An SLK?"

"What's that?"

"... A Mercedes..." I sighed, rubbing my temples.

"I give up..." Fang chuckled.

"Does that mean I get my car?" I slapped his arm, irritated. Then I sat down next to him.

"Angel, Gazzy, Nudge: whatever you're doing, it'd better not be something bad." I warned. Said flock members jumped, looking at me guiltily. Behind them, dozens of colored balloons littered the floor along with a few cans of whipped cream.

I shut my eyes and counted to ten. Then opened them again and sighed. So much for that...

"Care to explain what you're doing?" I asked. Nudge fidgeted.

"The computer told us to." I blinked.

"And I assume the computer also told you to give me an aneurism?" Gazzy blinked.

"What's an anyoorism?" I shook my head.

"Nothing, Gaz. Nothing. Now, let me see what the computer said." Angel grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the computer.

- - - - - - - -

_Dare Gazzy, Nudge, Ella, and Angel See how many balloons you can fill with whipped cream/shaving cream. Dare Fang, Max, Iggy, Sean Go outside and pop said goo filled balloons._

_- - - - - - - - - _

I rolled my eyes. "Go figure."

"Cool! Hey, guys, leave me some, okay?" Ella chirped. Iggy groaned.

"We have to?" I nodded, then realized he couldn't see.

"Yeah."

"Yippie." He muttered unenthusiastically before truding outside. The rest of us followed half-heartedly.

I shivered once we stepped outside, staring up at the grey clouds that covered the blue sky. Huh?

"Monsoon season. The weather's really bad around this time of the year. Sometimes it's really hot and dry, and sometimes it rains so much the river floods." Ella followed my gaze up to the clouds as she explained.

"You know something?"

"Huh?"

"Recently, monsoon season's gotten really bad. I overheard some people at school saying that it was because of global warming." She gave me a small smile and walked away, leaving me speechless. Again with that global warming stuff? Was I _never_ going to get a break?

_You will, Max. As soon as you save the world_. I bit back a growl as Angel plowed into me, three ballons held in her arms.

_Again, Voice? Give me a break-- literally. One of these days I'm going to be flying to one of your wild goose chases and I'm going to fall out of the sky and splatter all over someone's windshield._

The Voice clucked in a sympathetic way. _No you won't, Max. You were built to withstand so much more..._

I clenched my fists, irritated. "Max?"

Fang walked over to me, eyes worried. I must have looked like a crazy little bird kid, just standing there glaring at the world in general. I smiled at him and shook my head. "What's up?"

"I could ask you the same thing." I looked up at the sky again, then sighed.

"Voice." Fang nodded in understanding and grabbed my shoulder, steering me towards the rest of the flock.

"Ignore it," He suggested, smiling at me. "Just... have fun."

I blinked, nodding. Then Gazzy pressed a light blue whipped-cream-filled balloon into my hands.

"Max! Look out!" I ducked a moment to late; Iggy slammed one of the ballons on my head, leaving me covered in whipped cream.

I wiped the cream from my face, then licked it off my fingers. And all you sissies going "Ewww", suck it up; you don't waste whipped cream like that.

"Iggy, you're so dead," I vowed, charging after him. He laughed and dodged me, placing his outstretched hand on my forehead.

"If you ever catch me," He taunted, still holding me an arm length away. "You sound like an elephant trying to be sneaky."

I growled, my balloon still in my hands. "How would _you_ know what an elephant sounds like?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fang fly up, right above Iggy, ready to swoop down on him. Iggy grinned, a kind of evil 'you-don't-know-who-you're-messing-with' grin.

Fang swooped down, not having seen the evil grin, a balloon in hand. Faster than I could see, Iggy fell back, making me fall forward... right in Fang's path. It was too late to do much of anything but brace myself.

"Oww..." I groaned, my breathing ragged. Fang was heavier than he looked, even for a mutant bird kid. He landed on my back, completely winded.

"Sorry Max."

"No worries. Just get off, please. You're crushing my ribs." He jumped off and shook some whipped cream from his wings before helping me up.

"Iggy has to go down."

"Yep."

"Any ideas?"

"None whatsoever." Fang gave me a sidelong look and chuckled.

"The mighty Maximum Ride _without_ a plan? Now, _that_'s the end of the world." I glared at him, then froze.

"Forget about me?" Sean questioned, two balloons held over our heads. I gulped.

"Honestly? Yeah..." Sean laughed evilly -- another thing he does very well.

"Yeah! You can do it, Sean!" Ella cheered. They (Angel, Nudge, Gazzy, Ella, Total, and Akila) had taken refuge on the roof before things could get too out of hand.

"Ella?" I shouted, annoyed. "What about me?"

"Uh... Yay, Max?" I rolled my eyes. Fang chuckled.

"She's very supportive, isn't she?" Sean's laugh suddenly turned into a strangled yelp. I turned around and saw Iggy squeezing the contents of one of the balloons into Sean's mouth.

"Don't think I'm helping you two: you're next," He promised. Fang and I exchanged a look and grinned, raising our balloons.

"Not if we get you first."

- - - - - - - - -

Long story short, we ran out of balloons halfway through our attack-Iggy-and-Sean ambush. Leaving us defenseless, bored, and covered in whipped cream.

Iggy, being the most... uh... well, _perverted_ out of all of us continuously made jokes, all of them including whipped cream. He got smacked so many times over the head, he actually swore he could see for a bit.

Now, all nice and clean and not covered in sticky cream, we were sititng in the living room. Angel and Gazzy had already gone up to bed, claiming they were tired. _I _didn't believe it, but let them head on up.

A few minutes later, Nudge said she was tired too, so she went up to the room she and Angel shared. Iggy slouched off soon after, claiming he was bored.

Now, only Fang, Sean, Ella, and I were left, staring at each other tiredly.

"You know, it's getting pretty late," Sean murmured, curled up next to Ella. She nodded sadly.

"I should be getting home."

"Uh-huh." But neither of them made a move to do anything. I looked away, feeling a tinsy bit awkward. Fang caught my eye and motioned outside. I shrugged: sure, why not?

"You okay, Max? You've been a bit distracted since the whipped cream thing." I cracked a smile, then sighed.

"It's nothing. The Voice was annoying me." I looked up at the partly-cloudly sky, a three-quarters moon hanging low in the sky. Hundreds of twinkling stars blinked at me; we hadn't had a chance to see any stars in Forks, what with all the cloud cover and all.

"Pretty." I nodded, leaning against Fang, trying to ignore the butterflies battering violently in my stomach.

"Wanna go fly?" I blurted out once the buttleflies turned into wooly mammoths hammering against my poor, defenseless ribs. Fang chuckled.

"Why not?" He pulled away from me and opened up his pitch-black wings. As soon as he was airborn, I followed, my cheeks flaring red. I hoped the darkness was thick enough for him not to notice.

"So, Fang?" I asked a few moments later, spiraling tightly down before flaring my wings open to stop.

"Yeah?"

"How was it? Your birthday, I mean," I climbed up slowly to hear his response. He looked down and smiled, making my heart stutter before going into overdrive. _Stupid heart._

"It was great." I smiled back at him, my cheeks feeling hot.

"That's good."

"But..." I looked at him. But? There was a but? He noticed my worried look and grinned.

"You still haven't given me a present, Max." I hung my head, flushing guiltily.

"Uh... that's cause ... I didn't know what to get you..." I shrugged, pulling a U-ey in mid-air and ducking under him. He surprised me by laughing.

"That's why? Jeez, Max..." He flew over me, smirking. "A car would have been fine... Hell, even an R/C car would have worked."

I raised an eyebrow. I could have gotten him a frickin' remote controlled car to make him shut up? _Way to screw things up, Max_.

I moaned, slapping my forehead with the palm of my hand. "An R/C car? That's it? Seriously?" Fang laughed again, the sound lifting me higher than any thermal could.

"Yeah... So... " He surged up above me before falling in a steep dive. I glared at him as he flared out slowly.

"Showoff!" He chuckled, shooting up in front of me, grabbing my wrists and dragging me along. I tucked in my wings and stared at him, surprised.

"What are you doing?!" I demanded, clamping my arms around his waist to keep from falling. I felt him laugh, and he shifted his grip on me so I wouldn't fall.

"Showing off, Max." I sighed, feeling my butterfly buddies start acting up again. _Stop it... Stop it... Traitors._

"Don't let me go, okay? I'm lazy now..." He chuckled -- wow, I've never heard him laugh so much in one day -- and coasted slowly in the cool air.

"Seriously, Max... Thank you." And there, hundreds of feet above the ground, he hugged me. (HA! I bet you thought he was going to kiss me, huh? Well... ha!)

"No problem," I murmured, hugging him back. "Now let go. I wanna fly."

"Your wish, my command," He answered, letting me go. I dropped a few feet, the wind rushing past me. I flipped around, shooting down towards the ground. Cliff-diving had _nothing_ on us.

Finally, when the blood started rushing to my head, I spread out my wings and slowed my fall. I hovered in the air, shaking my head to clear it.

"Have fun, Max?" I nodded, laughing brightly. This was the most fun we'd had in years. He smiled, swooping down next to me.

"Want to go back now?" I shrugged. Honestly, I really didn't, but my wings were getting tired of flaring out suddenly.

"How about we stay outside? I don't want to intrude on Sean and Ella's... yeah." I shook my head at the image of the two lovebirds. Fang nodded.

"Sure." We flew back home, talking about the randomest things possible.

"I'm serious, Max. We _need_ a Mercedes. Don't those vampires have a bunch of those cars?" Fang was still trying to convince me to get him a car.

"The Cullens have a BMW, a Mercedes, a Volvo, a Porsche, an Aston-Martin," Fang whistled, "and a Jeep."

"But _you_ are not getting a car." He groaned, landing swiftly on our tree. I followed, stumbling slightly. Fang caught my arm and steadied me.

"We need vending machine food." He told me, sitting down on a branch. I rolled my eyes and sat down next to him, leaning against his shoulder.

"Twinkies, Ding-Dongs, the whole nine yards," I shook my head, yawning.

"Max?" My spine tensed as his tone of voice changed.

"Yeah?" I asked guardedly. He turned to look at me questioningly before smirking.

"What would you say if the computer told _me _to do something?" I felt my eyes narrow.

"What kind of something?" His eyes softened slightly.

"Just don't fly away again..." He slipped his hand under my chin and lifted it up. My eyes shot open, and my heart spluttered to a stop for a few seconds before hammering against my chest so hard I swear people in England heard it.

If I thought my heart was hurting when Fang tilted my head up, when he actually kissed me, the stupid thing almost exploded.

This kiss wasn't like the other ones, I can tell you that. Unfortunately, that's the most I remember. It was sweet, though. Like he didn't want to scare me away.

My brain hardly registered when he pulled away. I think I was in shock. Fang sat there silently, waiting for my reaction a little worriedly. He said not to fly away again, but that's the one thing my body wanted to do.

I fought back against my jittery instincts and sat still, staring down at the leafy ground under us. "Max?"

I jumped at the sound of his voice, my cheeks flaring. "Yeah?"

"You okay?" You know how some people say there are no stupid questions? Yeah, they've never been in this situation.

"Uh..." My voice cracked, and I gulped hurriedly. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."

"I'm sorry." I blinked.

"What? Why?" I felt a bit insulted. Was I not a good-- stop that thought right there, Max. Don't even _go_ there.

"I just am, okay?" I nodded, then grimaced. It was Fang's birthday, and here he was, apologizing to _me_.

"Don't be. I'm the one who should be sorry," I murmured, hugging him tightly. He let out a strangled noise and grabbed the branch to keep from falling off it.

"A little warning next time, please." I laughed, feeling awkward. I didn't regret it, though: I felt, I dunno... _happy_.

"Sure." I yawned, still not letting him go. He chuckled slightly, tugging my hands away.

"You're crushing my ribs." He offered as an explanation. Then he slipped off the branch, landing quietly on the ground.

"You coming?" He turned to look up at me, and I flushed.

"Um, I'm staying out here a little longer," He shrugged and walked into the house, leaving me more confused than ever.

The door shut behind him quietly, and I slipped off the branch clumsily. I leaned against the tree, shaking my head. Some birthday.

- - - - - - -

In the Martinez's den, the glow of a computer screen made Total look up as he went to get a drink of water.

Curious, he jumped on the black swivel chair and stared at the screen:

_  
Fang, I dare you to kiss Max again._

He chuckled to himself and pressed the monitor button to shut the screen down.

- - - - - - -

**No comment, guys. Really. **

**Again, if you want to leave your comments, review. If you want to leave questions, PM either ****Amaya 24**** or ****Symeria**** thank you.**

**Now, if you'll excuse me, my brain seems to have died a little. See you later, I guess...**

**-Max**

**(Oh, by the way, the Forks chapter is going to come out later. Like... on Saturday, maybe. I hope.)**_  
_


	6. Chapter 6

**The Return of the Q and A**

**By Amaya 24**

**Beta: Symeria**

**Okay guys. I want to thank wingedfighter, I believe, for spazzing because of our lack of updates. We are truly sorry.**

**Lately things have been hectic, and I... uh... kinda messed up something... You'll read about it here. **

**So, consider this little chapter a filler of sorts. **

**Disclaimer: If it sounds familiar, it ain't ours.**

**- - - - - - -**

I yawned lazily, watching as my Flock indulged in normal, everyday activities for a change.

Gazzy, Iggy, and Fang were watching TV: more specifically, they were watching an anime called _Bleach_. (Ever since our manga debut, we'd been... uh, looking into those type of things.) It wasn't all that bad.

Ella was on the phone, chatting with her boyfriend about school. Apparently, this year was particularly crazy for them.

"Uh... _Parler_ is a regular -er verb," I caught my sister muttering thoughtfully. "So... The conjugations are... Ugh! I can't remember... Well, I know the regular -ir verbs..."

I shook my head; just listening in was giving me a headache.

_It's okay, Max. I don't get it either._

I beamed at Angel, who smiled at me for a second before returning to her own activities, namely brushing Akila's fur. Total watched on, happy just to be near Akila again.

Nudge was reading quietly, occasionally mumbling a few words to herself. I stared at the pile of books on her left; ever since _Breaking Dawn_, she'd been trying to find other reading material. In her hands was a shiny copy of _Artemis Fowl_, and on her lap was a blue book whose cover I couldn't see.

"'Roar, Zabimaru!'" Someone on TV shouted, and Gazzy cheered.

"C'mon, Ichigo! You can do it!" Iggy rolled his eyes, bonking the Gasman lightly on the head.

"He can't hear you, G-man." I chuckled at the nickname, then leaned back leisurely.

"Good to be back..."

So... At this point in time, you're probably wondering what's going on and why we haven't updated recently. Well, Ella and Sean started school in July, and that meant they were out for the Q and A. Not only that, but the Voice had to put in its two cent's worth of misery and send us on another wild goose chase.

Now, if you all don't like spoilers, I urge you to skip the next few sentences:

... Still here? Okay then. I've had a little chat with JP and I've gotten some interesting information. Last spoiler warning...

Coolio. He just told me the name of 'our' new book. It is, as far as I know, going to be called _Waterwings_. Now, I can't really say much on it now... but maybe, _just_ maybe, I can tell ya'll where to look. But not now.

Anyways. We'd just returned from a lousy flight to the Midwest and were relaxing in my mother's den, enjoying the relatively calm day.

"The conjugations for the irregular verbs? Um... Sean, I don't think I got those. Remember? I was at the JV tournament that day... Oh, the match? Awesome. I can't believe I'm in _two_ sports right now. It's super tough, but tennis is so much fun!"

I turned as Ella squeaked, blushing darkly. "Well... the skirts are part of the uniform..."

Sean must have said something romantic, because her blush deepened. "Aw... Sean..."

"Whoo! Go Zangetsu!" Gazzy cheered, and I winced as the TV displayed two figured, decked out in black, stabbed each other. The one thing I couldn't stand was the blood and the cursing in those shows.

"Gazzer, can it!" Iggy snapped, eyes focused on the screen as if hoping to see something. A ghost of a smile appeared on Fang's face as he watched the exchange silently.

I yawned again, feeling sleepy.

_Max? Are we going to do the Q and A any time soon? I really liked it._ I blinked at Angel tiredly, wincing ever so slightly at Gazzy's mad cheering.

_Maybe we should take a break, don't you think? I mean... It's kind of time-consuming..._

"No! Max, I don't wanna stop the Q and A!" Angel called out loud, making everyone look at me. Oh, great...

Gazzy frowned, bewildered. "You wanna stop the Q and A, Max?"

"Aw, why?" Nudge moaned, setting her book down carefully. I fidgeted under their gazes.

"Just for a little..."

Ella clamped her hand of the receiver. "But, Max!"

I closed my eyes, feeling the accusing glares coming from all directions. "It was just a suggestion."

"Why?" Iggy asked, sounding a bit annoyed. "We stopped it once. _That_ went well."

I shifted in my seat and frowned. "Just forget I said anything."

"You lost the questions, didn't you, Max." Angel said solemnly, making Ella chuckle.

"Oh..." I opened my eyes a crack and saw her put on a Cheshire cat grin. Creepy, if the analogy wasn't enough. "So, you don't want to quit; you're just too lazy to find the questions."

I shrugged. "Same difference."

Total sniffed, making me open my eyes. He had big, shiny alligator tears streaming down his face. "That was mean, Max. I thought you were serious."

I groaned, rolling my eyes. "Okay! So I lost the questions! It's not my fault!"

"Yeah it is." Fang pointed out. I glared at him.

"Shut up. Who said I had to take care of them anyways?!"

Nudge raised up her hand slowly, staring at me with wide eyes. I exhaled slowly, my sleepy mood disappearing fast.

"Fine... I'll see if I can't get them back..." The younger kids cheered, and quickly returned to their original activities. Meh.

I leaned back against the couch, hands crossed over my chest, feeling irritated. "It's just a bunch of questions..." I grumbled. "I don't see what the big deal is."

"It takes their mind off Itex, Max," Fang mumbled beside me, not looking away from the bloody TV screen for a moment. "It's one of the few things we can look forward to."

I blinked. Was it national make-Max-feel-guilty day?

- - - - - - - - -

**So... yeah. I lost the questions we had lined up for... a while. I'm sorry! I swear I had them in our backpack, but I suspect Total sabotage. He was riding in my backpack for quite some time.**

**Oh well. We'll just have to get some more from, well, you guys. Remember: PM, not review.**

**Bye-a. **

**-Max**


	7. Chapter 7

**The Return of the Q and A: Chapter 7**

**By Amaya 24**

**Beta: Symeria**

**EDIT: No beta this time, you guys. So, if there are any mistakes, we are sorry. Okay? Okay.**

_Hey guys. Fang here. Max is a little... indisposed right now. She'll write something in later, I'm sure. _

_The kids asked me to write the author's note today: we weren't able to find last time's questions, but Nudge scoured our email to find some old questions and dares we'd looked over. Thanks to everyone who's reading this and reviewing; you guys rock!_

**Hi everyone! It's Max. Sorry it's taken us so long to write; we'll explain everything in the fic. Standard disclaimer applies.**

- - - - - -

"I'm sorry, Max," My mom said sternly, yanking the thermometer out of my mouth. "But you're too sick; you have to stay here at least until your fever goes down."

"I'm fine," I mumbled, trying to pull away. "I'll be fine. It's just a little cough."

Fang rolled his eyes, pushing me down on the couch as gently as possible. "You're a mess, Max. Just chill until you get better."

Yeah... After our last disastrous non-Q and A chapter, we went off. We bird-kids just can't seem to stay in one place for long, you know?

Long story short, I got some bug in wherever we were, and now I'm sick. Like, bad.

"Don't die, Max." Iggy called out, smirking. I half-heartedly stuck my tongue out at him.

"Not planning to, Igs." I coughed suddenly, my chest heaving painfully. It felt like my lungs (air sacs included) were filled with cotton.

"Take it easy, Max," Fang murmured, shrugging out of his jacket and setting it over me. Nudge stared at me, wide-eyed.

"Max? I know this is totally lousy timing, but..." She smiled slightly, pulling out a crumpled paper out of her pocket. "I didn't find the old Q and A questions, and Sym wasn't answering, so I went through our email to find some old questions."

I sighed. "If you want to do the Q and A, sweetie, go ahead."

Gazzy frowned. "But Max, you're sick. You can't do the Q and A..."

"I'll live, guys. Fang can do it."

- - - - - - -

**(Fang's Point of View)**

I frowned, blinking slightly. "I'm sorry, what?"

Max chuckled, looking incredibly pale. "You can do the Q and A 'til I get better."

Not exactly what I was expecting. "But..."

"Oh, please, please, _please_?!" Nudge pleaded, clasping her hands before her. "Please, Fang?"

"Yeah, Fang!" Angel chirped, giving me her Bambi eyes. Ugh, crap....

"Uh..." Ella laughed.

"Come on, Fang. It gives us something to do while Max gets better." I rolled my eyes but sighed, defeated.

"Whatever." If worst came to worst, I could hide in the kitchen with Max's mom.

"Kids?" Dr. Martinez called, walking in. "I'm going to the drug store to get some medicine, okay? Don't destroy the house while I'm gone; Fang, dear, I hate to be a bother, but please keep an eye on everyone while I get back."

"Why does _Fang_ get to be the one who watches over us?" Iggy grumbled, slouched on the couch.

"'Cause he can _see_, maybe?" I heard Total grumble under his breath. Ella stared at her mom curiously.

"Can I ask Sean over?" Dr. M frowned.

"Fine, but don't do anything wrong, you hear me?"

"I won't." Ella beamed, the image of innocence. I snorted under my breath.

"Okay.... Fang, please keep them in line," She told me before walking out the door.

Oh, crap.

- - - - - -

_Alright: Max: I dare you to drink a gallon of mountain dew. And eat a packet of those little marshmallows._

_- - - - - -_

"Ooh, so nutritious," Max chuckled, smiling lightly.

"You heard her," I muttered, feeling awkward. I wasn't used to actually doing this; the Q and A was Max's thing. "Go get her a galloon of Mountain Dew and a bag of marshmallows."

Not like I was going to _let_ her drink it, but whatever, right?

"Can do, boss man," Iggy saluted, sauntering to the kitchen. Angel beamed at me, her blue eyes happy.

"Thank you so, so much for doing this, Fang," She gushed, hugging me tightly. Nudge nodded, smiling.

"Yeah, really, Fang. We haven't done this in so long."

A very long time, but that was beside the point. Iggy came in toting a two-liter bottle of soda and holding a bag of the big marshmallows. "Does anyone know how many liters are in a gallon?"

Ella wrinkled her nose. "I hate conversions."

Max giggled, coughing harshly into my jacket. Yuck. Oh well. "Sorry Fang. I'll drink it all."

She reached out for the bottle, an impish look on her face. I grabbed the bottle before Iggy could set it in Max's arms. "Hell will freeze over before you drink two liters of Mountain Dew, Max." Maybe she could take a few sips, but I was _not_ planning on letting her drink the entire bottle. I wasn't crazy, despite anything Max said.

"But Fang!" She whined, looking like she really wanted the soda. "Please?"

The doorbell rang just then, making Ella jump up. "I'll get it!"

"No, Max. You aren't drinking it." I argued. Who knew being in charge was such a pain?

"Hi guys," Sean said as he walked in.

"Hey man." Iggy greeted, smirking. "We're trying to convince Fang to let Max drink a gallon of Mountain Dew."

Sean laughed, leaning into Ella for a kiss. I struggled to keep from looking away like Gazzy was doing. "Ew! Cooties..."

Max rolled her eyes, balancing a Kleenex box on her belly. "Hey Sean. Make Fang give me the bottle, yeah?"

"No." I glared at Sean, who shrugged and helped himself to the marshmallows.

"Nice to see you guys again." Max groaned, reaching over and grabbing a handful of marshmallows. She stuffed two into her mouth, grinning brightly. Oh, no...

"Fang, you should give her the Mountain Dew." Angel said solemnly, pulling a marshmallow out of the bag and giving half to Total and Akila.

"I don't think so, Ange. And don't give the dogs marshmallows; it's not good for them." Angel nodded, but I saw her give Total another one.

"Relax, Fang," Iggy said, grabbing the bag and tossing it to me. "What's the worst thing that can happen if you give Max the bottle?"

**A few minutes later...**

"Oh, my gosh," Max giggled madly, pulling my jacket over her face. "That's funny..."

Nudge nodded, eyes bright. The marshmallow bag had been destroyed completely; there wasn't a single bit left as evidence.

"Man... that's so… Marshmallowy." Our fearless leader giggled again, nursing the bottle of Mountain Dew in her arms. "Ha. Marshmallowy."

"That's not a word..." Gazzer claimed, trying to get close to the soda bottle without incurring Max's wrath.

"Yeah it is!"

"Nope!"

"Is too!"

"Liar!" I felt like my _brain _was going to turn _into_ a marshmallow if they kept it up.

"Shut up!" I snapped, glowering at everyone. "Never again are you people doing this, got it?"

Max giggled again. Oy...

- - - - -_  
Fang: Act hyper. REALLY hyper. And impersonate Nudge. For ten minutes.  
Would you ever cheat on Max?  
What would you name a daughter?  
A son?_

_- - - - - -_

"Why am I getting so many questions?" I grumbled under my breath, staring at the screen. Then, a little louder; "Do I have to?"

The Flock nodded, grinning evilly, half still on their sugar high. "Go on, Fang. Impersonate Nudge."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't want to."

Nudge frowned. "Then answer the questions and impersonate me later!"

"'Would I ever cheat on Max?'" I echoed the question dully. "Don't you have to be with someone to cheat on them?"

"Like you aren't already," Iggy whispered to the Gasman and Sean, both who snickered.

"Shut up, Figgy," I snapped back, sitting beside Max to check her temperature. She was warm. "Ella?"

She gave me a small look and fussed over Max, feeling her forehead and stuff. I returned to the computer, slightly bored. "What would I name my kids? What kind of question is that?"

"Dude, just pick some random names and finish it," Iggy told me, walking up the stairs. A few minutes later he came back down with something black in his hands; then he began playing with the guts of Ella's PS2. Ella frowned at him, setting a washcloth on Max's forehead.

"You better fix it, Iggy, or you're a dead man." Sean hugged his girlfriend, trying to keep her from flying at Iggy in a fit of rage.

"Um... dunno." I shrugged, trying to scour my brain for some decent names. "For the boy..." I glanced at Nudge and Angel. "Any ideas?"

Angel smiled brightly. "I like Celeste. You should name your girl Celeste."

"But, Ange," Max sniffled, smiling slightly. "You already named your bear Celeste. How about something else, kiddo?"

"I like Neveah," Nudge said, using Akila as a pillow. "It's the word 'heaven' spelled backwards."

"It's lovely, sweetie," Max said loyally, coughing. I nodded, scrolling down the screen on the computer.

"Anyone else?" I asked. Gazzy nodded.

"Zephyr's cool. It's..."

"Zephyr's actually a word, you know." Nudge said hurriedly, smiling. "It means a mild wind, and it's Greek! It comes from the word _Zephyrus_, who is a Greek god--"

Iggy sighed, slamming his hand over Nudge's mouth. "Since when did Nudge become a dictionary?"

I shrugged, listening as Max and Ella chuckled. "No idea. And to be honest, don't want to know. Next?"

"Name the boy Edward."

Everyone groaned at Ella's response. "Next. Please. And nothing _Twilight_-related, please."

"How about..." Max shrugged, yawning, slowly weaning off her high. "I don't know. Ask Nudge. She's been reading like a maniac; I'm sure she's got some good names."

Nudge beamed, happy to be in the spotlight. "Okay! Um... Oh. You could name the boy Percy."

Iggy snorted. "God, nerdy much?"

"It's short for _Perseus_, not Percival," Nudge clarified, shooting Iggy a dirty look. "And Perseus is a Greek hero. And you can name the girl Annabeth. Or Thalia. Or... Clarisse."

"Anything else, Nudge?" I'd learned from experience that it was better to let Nudge wear herself out instead of trying to stop her forcefully.

"Um. Nathaniel for the boy and Kathleen or Kitty for the girl. Or Bart."

"What's that short for?" Gazzer asked, marshmallow goop spread across his face.

"Wipe your face, Gaz," I sighed, sounding like Max. Nudge and Gazzer ignored me.

"Bart is short for either Bartholomew, or Bartimaeus. I like Bartimaeus better, though. Or... You can name your girl Bianca. Or...."

"Rukia!" Gazzy chirped, his face lighting up suddenly. "Like that girl from _Bleach_! And Orihime and Tatsuki and... Name the boy Hitsugaya. He's cool."

"His name's Toshiro, not Hitsugaya. That's his last name, dork," Iggy muttered absently, feeling the colors of the wires in his hands. "Why can't I feel the color of the goop on this?"

I sighed, feeling a headache start. "The goop is kinda green-ish, Igs. And Gaz? Enough with the cartoon names, please? Can we just move on?"

Max and Ella shared an evil smirk, making Sean scoot away from them slowly. "Impersonate Nudge, Fang."

I shook my head. "Never."

"Please?" Max begged, holding her hands out in front of her. "For me?"

"No." She pouted, making Ella chuckle.

"Spoilsport."

- - - - --

_  
Angel: Do you like pina colladas? And getting caught in the rain?_

_- - - - - -_

Angel stared at me. "What's that mean?"

"It's from a song, sweetie," Max chuckled, coughing again.

"'Do you like pina coladas? And getting caught in the rain?" Gaz crooned, cackling.

"Oh, dear lord. That's exactly what we need, G-man. Stop before I kick you out of the island."

"Iggy? There is no island."

"Really, Max? I hadn't noticed." While those two continued their pointless banter, I sat down next to Sean.

"Hey man," He greeted, staring at the exchange amusedly. "You know that show, _My Own Worst Enemy_?"

"Yeah. You saw it?" He nodded, smiling slightly.

"Yup. Not bad, actually. Little hard to follow once in a while, but okay."

"And _TAYLOR is_ in it!" Ella trilled, making us jump suddenly. Sean sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, he's in it. But it's not like you see him all that much..." Max stared at Ella, confused.

"Who's Taylor?" Nudge gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.

"Taylor _Lautner_? He's in it?" She demanded, fixing her 'evil' stare on Sean. He nodded.

Nudge squealed, tackling Ella into a hug. "Ohmygosh!"

"Enough!" Next question, please...

- - - - - -

_  
Nudge: Hannah Montana? Why or why not?_

_- - - - - - -_

"Eh... I used to like her," She murmured, tossing a bouncy ball she found in her mad scramble to find anything _Twilight_-y in the room. "But now she's not that good."

"Yeah, nowadays Nudge is a Narutard." Iggy teased, making Nudge glare at him.

"I am _not_ a Narutard!" She screeched, making the rest of us flinch.

"Of course you're not. You just watch _Naruto_ like it holds the secrets of the universe." Nudge glared at him.

"You are mean! You watch _Bleach_, dork! So..." Iggy raised a hand to stop her, his fingers coated in greenish goop.

"Yeah, but _Bleach_-itard doesn't sound right. _Narutard,_ on the other hand, is perfect. It fits." Max rolled her eyes, hugging a pillow.

"I thought Nudge liked _The Simpson's_ more," She mumbled softly, yawning. That kind of killed the conversation, to be honest.

- - - - -_  
Total: Lick Ella._

_- - - - - _

Ella frowned. "Ew."

"Hey!" Total huffed, annoyed. He pouted and groused, threatening to run away and join a traveling theatre troupe. Did traveling theatre troupes even exist now?

"Just lick her, Total," Sean pinned her down, tickling her ruthlessly. Total wagged his tail happily, hopping up and down.

"No! Please! I'll do anything..." Ella moaned, gasping for breath. Total chuckled and licked her cheek, trotting away happily afterward.

"See," Sean murmured, smiling at his girlfriend lovingly. "It wasn't so bad."

Ella blushed, making the rest of us look away slightly. Max coughed discreetly, hoping to alert the lovebirds that there were other kinds of birds in the room.

"Right. Sorry."

- - - - -

_Iggy: Ignite a pair of Max's underwear. Or anything else, if you really  
can't._

_- - - - -_

"Iggy, if you go through my clothes I will kill you," Max threatened, glaring at Igs like there was no tomorrow. Iggy frowned, weighing his options.

"Let's see… If I listen to Max, I won't get to blow things up. If I _don't_ listen to Max I'll—"

"—Wish you were never born, Iggy." Max vowed, giving him her best 'threatening' look. I bit back a small chuckle; if Iggy went through with this, he was toast.

Iggy shrunk back, shrugging. "Oh well. I still need to finish with Ella's PS2 anyways."

In a corner, Sean and Ella were cooing lovey-dovey crap at each other, making the rest of us only slightly uncomfortable. You'd think we would have gotten used to this by now.

The silence on our part thickened, making us feel even more uncomfortable. Then:

"'Charlie! You have to come to Candy Mountain, Charlie!'" Gazzy mumbled under his breath, taking an alarm clock apart_ a la _Iggy. Meaning, without permission. "'Yeah, Charlie! Come to Candy Mountain...'"

"Gaz, are you _serious_?" Iggy choked, laughing. "'Charlie the Unicorn goes to Candy Mountain'?"

Gazzy flushed slightly. "I saw it last night and now it's stuck in my head! Leave me alone..."

"'Let's all go to Candy Mountain, Charlie!'" Nudge giggled, causing a chain reaction. Okay then...

- - - - - -

_  
G-man: Go give Dr. Martinez a hug._

_- - - - -_

Gazzy beamed at his nickname, then frowned. "But she's not home yet."

"So you wait 'til she gets home, doofus." Iggy muttered, holding a screwdriver menacingly in his hands.

"Don't call him a doofus, Iggy," Max lectured, shooting him a dark look from under the covers we'd piled on her.

Sean laughed, enjoying the chaos. "Man, I missed this..."

"Can it, Sean," Max ordered, glaring at him too. "Or I'll hurt you too."

- - - - - - -

_  
Ella: Cut a lock of Sean's hair off._

_- - - - - -_

"Why?" Sean asked, pulling at his light-brown hair. Ella frowned.

"No!" She clung to Sean protectively, and I couldn't help but notice he was trying to avoid looking at her... _ahem_... directly. Either this boy was incredibly polite, or something was wrong.

"Big whoop," Iggy drawled, snapping the black lid of the game console shut. "So you cut off a little of his hair. He does that every so often anyways."

Ella frowned, shifting slightly. "Fine... if Sean doesn't mind."

Sean shrugged. "Whatever. It's not that big of a deal."

What kind of dares are these people sending us?

- - - --_  
Sean: Eat .BYE!  
Comedy  
_- - - - - -

"Sure," Sean smiled, leaning back. He was really enjoying himself here, wasn't he? Why couldn't he get a dare like 'Impersonate Nudge?' He was a born actor; he could handle it.

Gazzy stared up at me hopefully. "Sure, Gaz. You can get some pie too."

"Me too!"

"And me!"

"... Well, if Nudge and Angel are getting some, I guess I'll get some too..."

"Jeez, Max. It's pie, not a death sentence."

"Shut up, Iggy."

"Is that all you can say? 'Shut up'? Seriously, Max, you need a new catchphrase." I rolled my eyes. Maybe if I pretended they weren't there they'd all go away.

"Nope! Sorry Fang!" Right... mind reader. It's weird how you tend to forget things like that.

- - - - - -

_Ooh, here's some dares:_

Max: Dress Fang in whatever you want.

_- - - - - -_

Max shot me an evil look, making my skin crawl. "Cool."

"No, Max," I deadpanned, glaring at her. Sick or not, she was _not_ going to dress me up in anything humiliating.

She pouted, making my stomach drop. "No, Max."

"Please?" Ella and Nudge joined in, shooting me Bambi looks. Even Angel got into it, crawling onto my lap and hugging my neck.

"Pretty please, Fang?" I tried not to groan.

"Fine, fine," I sighed, ignoring their cheers. "But nothing too humiliating, Max."

- - - - - - -

I sighed, trying not to roll my eyes. "Well... It could have been worse."

Ella was beaming at me happily, nudging Max's shoulder encouragingly. "Wasn't I right, Max? Huh? Huh?"

"You were right, Ella. He does look like him." I shook my head, then glanced at Sean.

"Have they done this to you before?" He nodded at me sympathetically.

"They Edward-fied me." The girls had basically taken my black hoodie and replaced it with a white muscle shirt, khaki shorts (even though it's freaking _OCTOBER_) and sneakers. Then they messed up my hair until they were satisfied.

"He looks like Jacob," Nudge whispered, staring at me mystified. Ella nodded proudly.

"We definitely need to dress up Sean like Edward for Halloween," She began, plotting wildly. "You could be Rosalie, Max. Nudge could be... hm. She could be Leah, maybe. Don't you think? Gazzy could be... Benjamin. And Angel could be..."

Sean sighed. "I thought the _Twilight _fever had stopped."

"Yeah; we said we'd stop putting so much in the Q and A," I added, trying to smooth down my hair somewhat.

"Well.... this just happened to be part of the dare..." Ella murmured, looking sad. I didn't believe her at all, but Sean obviously did, so I had to let it drop.

- - ---_  
Fang: Dress Max in whatever you want._- - - - - - - -

Stay that way for the ENTIRE DAY!

Ha, I'd like to see :D

I smirked, leaning back. "Payback is sweet, isn't it, Max?"

Max stared at me, looking slightly worried. "Be nice, Fang. I'm sick, remember?" She gave a half-hearted little cough.

"Nope." I allowed myself a little grin. She paled considerably.

- - - - -

"This, Fang, is beyond wrong. This is _sexist_," Max seethed, curled up in her covers again. I rolled my eyes.

"We can barely see you, Max. It's not that big of a deal."

Max frowned. "A skirt is a skirt, Fang.... Man, how I wish we had actual names; that way I could use your full name when I got mad at you."

"You dressed me up like a werewolf. I had every _right_ to stick you in a skirt. Besides, like I said; you can't see when you're all covered up."

She glared at me, glancing at the clock on the wall. "I can't believe we have to be like this _all day_."

Ella shot me a grateful look, mouthing 'thank you' none too subtly. She couldn't have been that desperate to stick Max in a skirt, could she?

- - - - --

_First off, I haven't read the Q & A sequel's chapters yet! (I will read them!  
I promise!) Anyway, I just wanted to send this first incase you stop doing  
these! I wanted to get mine answered!_

Ok, onto the questions, and dares! Question: To EVERYBODY (Ella, Total, Sean,  
Dr. M, and Jeb included.) Describe everybody in one word ABOUT EACH PERSON! So  
like Max is strong, Fang is hot, Iggy is cute, Gazzy is funny, Total is  
hilarious, Dr. M is nice, Ella is awesome, Sean is cool, Angel is adorable,  
Nudge is talkative, and Jeb is crazy. And everybody has tohis!

- - - - -

Iggy frowned. "How come I'm 'cute' but Fang's 'hot'?"

"It's all about the fans, man," I smirked, glancing at those around us. "Sean, since you seem to be having so much fun, you go first."

Sean grimaced. "Okay. Fine. Max is… well, _max_. Fang, you are freakishly quiet at times."

"That's more than one word, Sean," Ella pointed out. Sean shrugged.

"Whatever. Igs, you're cool, man. Gazzy, you're tough, little guy. Nudge, you're… talkative." Max coughed discreetly under her breath, making me chuckle.

"Angel, you're an angel. Total is… refined." Total preened at the comment. "Ella, you're beautiful;" Ella blushed darkly. "Your mom is awesome. And Jeb is – no offense, Max – insane."

"Ella, you're up." Ella smiled, curling up next to Sean.

"Okay. Max is incredible; Fang's cool. Iggy's sarcastic. Nudge is sweet. Gazzy's… uh… _fragrant_… Angel's sweet too. Total's classy. Mom's the best, and Jeb is scary. And Sean is… " Here, she leaned over and whispered into her boyfriend's ear, making him flush lightly.

"Anyways… Igs."

"Sure thing, boss man. Max is intense. You're… dude, I'm sorry, but you're a _freak_."

"Says the mutant bird kid with wings." Iggy laughed and continued.

"Nudge is a motor mouth. Gazzy smells. Angel's scary at times. Total is kinda snobby. Max's mom is awesome. Jeb's a bigger freak than F-Nick. Ella's obsessed. And Sean is cool."

Nudge beamed at us. "Max is awesome; Fang is cool; Iggy's annoying; Gazzy's funny; Angel's adorable; Total's smart, like, in a pop culture kind of way; Dr. M is super nice, and Jeb is mean." She said it all in one breath, surprisingly enough.

"Angel?" She beamed at us.

"Max is the best, Fang is cool, Iggy's funny, Gazzy's smelly, Nudge talks too much, Total's loud, Ella's nice, and Sean is cool too! Max's mom is awesome, and Jeb is evil."

"Nicely done, Ange." Max sighed, taking a last gulp of Mountain Dew. "No offense, guys, but this is kinda boring. Can we do something else?"

"Like?" She shrugged, yawning.

"Torturing Fang sounds fun." I glared at her.

"Don't, Max."

_- - - - - -_

"Why am I out in the hall?!" I demanded, glaring at my guards, Total and Angel.

"'Cause we said so. Now quit whining or we'll make you go outside!"

"Jeez, what do you think I am? A dog?" I growled under my breath, making Angel giggle.

- - - - -_  
hi this for the flock  
First, a BIG happy hello to Iggy and Gazzy, you guys are my favorite{not that  
i don't love the whole flock}  
first one is for iggy what is your favorite thing to cook?_

_- - - - - - -_

Iggy shrugged. "Dunno. Something simple." The slacker…

"Like?" Max pressed.

"Anything in a can. All you have to do is heat it up and open it."

"Lazy."

"You don't even _cook_ that!"

"I bet _Max_ could cook that!"

"Um.... actually..." Max glared at us.

"Real nice, you guys. I'll remember this next time you guys are begging me for food."

- - - - -_  
this is for the flock  
what is your favorite book {besides twilight}_

_- - - - - _

"Ooh, ooh! Can I go first?" Nudge asked, smiling. Of course, since she'd been reading like a maniac...

"Go ahead, Nudge," I sighed, yawning. Where was that bottle of Mountain Dew when you needed it?

Nudge cleared her throat. "Okay, my favorite book, for now, is... Oh! _Percy Jackson and the Olympians_! They're sooo good!"

I frowned. "What's this about? Not vampires, right?" We'd had enough of vampires lately, thank you very much.

Nudge shook her head. "Nope. It's about Greek mythology!"

"That's... nice. Next?" Iggy chuckled, leaning back.

_"The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead._ That was interesting. He shrugged, screwing the last of the PS2's ... uh... screws... back on. "Here, Ella."

Ella beamed, reaching over. "Coolio. Thanks Igs. My favorite book is... _The Outsiders_. It's a classic. And Tom Cruise was in the movie."

Sean rolled his eyes. "I liked _Christine_ by Stephen King. It's pretty good."

"I like _Captain Underpants!_" Gazzy posed, making us chuckle.

"_Skippy John Jones._ He's a Siamese cat that looks like a Chihuahua!" Angel chirped. Ella rolled her eyes.

"There's this guy I know who's name's Skippy...."

"Seriously?"

"Nah. That's just what they call him."

Max frowned, biting back a yawn. "_Carrie_ by the one and only Stephen King. Besides, it's the shortest book of his."

"And I liked the _Darren Shan_ books."

Total huffed. "It's all about _The Secret Life of Bees._"

We stared at him. "When did _you_ read 'The Secret Life of Bees'?"

"I just did, okay?" We decided we wouldn't question Total anymore after that. That dog was freaky at times.

- - - - - - - -

_  
Hey flock! I'm new at this and all so.  
Nudge:Your just like my best friend Cembra (Who we're adopting)she relates  
EVERYTHING to Twilight, she attacked my brothers friend thinking it was  
Jasper.  
Max and Fang:(Dare!) I'm not mean, but I dare you to sing evanescence: going  
under, lithium, or wake me up.  
See I'm not mean!  
Oh and Ig, hun, leave Max and Fang alone fora little bit, they need a break  
frm sarcasm.  
Artemis  
_- - - - - -

Iggy frowned. "Oh, man..."

"Cheer up, dude," Sean slapped his shoulder lightly. "At least she called you 'hun'."

"Eh. True." I sighed, blinking.

"Sing? Are they serious? I thought they'd stopped for sure."

Max chuckled. "You probably _do_ like singing, Fang. You just want to keep that tough-guy act you have going."

"What act?" Ella sighed, reaching over for the computer. She stabbed the tower button and pushed the key for the monitor. Instead of the start up screen, however, a blue screen popped up.

"Oh, no!" She yelped, frantically fussing over the computer. "Not the blue screen of death!"

"The what?"

"The blue screen of death! My computer crashed!" Ella wailed, clicking buttons uselessly. Iggy chuckled.

"Guess that means Max and Fang aren't singing, huh?"

- - - - -

_Okay, Max and Fang, I DARE you to reenact two scenes from New Moon._

Fang, I want you to "break up" with max, Like Edward did with Bella in the  
first half of New Moon

- - - - -

"More _Twilight_?" Max stared at me evenly.

"We don't have to if you don't want to." I sighed, staring at the kids.

"What do you think?"

Nudge's eyes lit up, and even Ella seemed a bit enthusiastic despite the death of her computer. "Oh, yeah! Please do it, you guys."

I sighed. "I'll get the book..."

**(Ten minutes later)**

"You sure you're up for this, Max?" I asked. She was looking better, but still kind of pale. She grimaced.

"Sure, sure."

I flipped through a few of the pages slightly, getting annoyed. "You'd think it'd be easier to find the freaking page, don't you think?"

Max chuckled and took the book out of my hands, flipping through it expertly. Ha. And she said she wasn't obsessed.

"Okay, here we go." She handed me back the book. I blinked tiredly.

"From here? You sure?" She nodded, curling up slightly. "If you say so..."

I cleared my throat. "'Let's go take a walk,'" I mumbled, trying to sound indifferent.

Max didn't answer, skimming through the words to find actual dialogue. "'All right; let's talk,'" She finally muttered at length.

"'B-Max,'" I caught myself in time. "'We're leaving.'"

"'Why now?'" Max asked, confused. "'One more year...?'"

"'Max, it's time,'" I sighed, trying hard to ignore our audience. "'Besides, how much longer are we going to be able to stay in Forks? Iggy--'" Iggy smirked. "'--Can barely pass as a... fourteen year old and he say's he's sixteen.'" That didn't make sense, but whatever. Real names and ages, right?

"'As much as we'd love to, soon we're going to have to start over someplace new.'"

Max looked even more confused than before and looked at me. I looked back as coldly as possible. "'When you say 'we'...'"

"'I mean my family and I.'" I said 'crisply'.

Max shook her head. "'Okay. I'm going with you.'"

"'You can't, Max. The place we're going to... it's not right for you.'"

"'The right place for me is wherever you are.'" She said passionately. I stared her down, trying to get into the part and struggling.

"'I'm not right for you, Max.'" I thought I heard Ella squeal in protest, but let it slide.

"'Don't be ridiculous!'" Max murmured, trying to sound mad. "'You're the best thing that's ever happened to me.'"

"'My world isn't for you,'" I returned sadly, idly wondering if Dr. M was going to get back soon.

"'What happened with...'" Max looked around frantically. "'What happened with Sean was nothing, okay, Fang? Nothing!'"

Sean grumbled. "Why do _I_ have to be the one who tries to eat her?"

I ignored him. "'You're right. It was to be expected.'"

"'You promised!'" Max screamed, making me back away a bit. "'You promised me in Phoenix that you'd stay...'"

"'Stay as long as it was safe for you,'" I interrupted. Max shook her head, annoyed.

"'No! This has to do with my soul, right?'" She demanded. "'Ca--_Iggy_ told me about that and I don't _care_, Fang. I don't care! You can take my soul; I don't want it without you! It's _yours_!'" She was panting now, giving me a guilty smile.

Ella was hyperventilating behind us. "'Max, I don't want you to come with us.'" I said, mustering as much coldness into my voice as I could.

Max stared at me, wide eyed. "'You... you don't... want me?'"

"'No.'" It hurt to look at her; she looked absolutely _shocked_. She was taking this a bit too seriously.

"'Well... that changes things,'" She murmured calmly, staring at me evenly.

"'In a way, I have always loved you, of course,'" I said in a low voice, wondering why so many girls like Edward; to be doing this to the 'love of his life' was pretty low. "'But what happened the other night made me realize that I need a change. I'm tired of being something I'm not.'"

I stared at her, wondering about what the others were seeing, exactly. "'I am not human.'"

"'I've allowed this to go on long enough and I regret it.'" Nudge gasped sharply, a small squeak caught in her throat.

"'No... Don't do it,'" Max breathed, staring at me. I looked down at her, my stomach clenching unpleasantly. We shouldn't be such good actors.

"'You're not right for me, Max.'" Nudge... well, she didn't so much squeal as screech.

"'If... if that's what you want...'" Max said weakly, smiling slightly at Nudge's response. I nodded once, both to her and to what she had said.

"'I'd like to ask you for a favor, if it's not too much to ask,'" I asked, looking at her indifferently.

"'Anything,'" She promised.

"'Don't do anything rash or stupid; do you understand?'" God, Edward went through so many mood swings in this thing, it was like he was PMS-ing.

Max nodded faintly, meaning I had to continue. "'I'm thinking about... Gazzy, of course. He needs you and you need to take care of him.'"

Max nodded again. "'I will.'"

I relaxed slightly, surprised at how tense I was. "'I'll make you a promise in exchange. I promise that you'll never see me again. I won't return or make you go through all of this again. You could go on with your life without me interfering at all. It will be as if I never existed.'"

I smiled amiably, feeling like hell on the inside. "'Don't worry; you're human. Your memory is like a strainer. For you, time heals all wounds.'"

"'And your memories?'" Max asked softly.

"'Well, I'm not going to forget, but those like me... we distract ourselves easily.'" I smiled again, starting to walk away. "'I suppose that's everything; we won't bother you again.'"

"'Angel isn't coming back,'" Max murmured almost inaudibly. I shook my head.

"'No. Everyone else has left. I stayed behind to say goodbye.'"

"'Angel's gone?'"

"'She wanted to say goodbye'," I told her. "'But I convinced her that a clean break was better for you.'"

I sighed. "'Goodbye, Max.'"

"'Wait!'" She called. I continued walking.

"'Take care.'"

Once out in the hall, I collapsed on the stairs, shaking my head. "Holy crap I think I was possessed."

Iggy came walking out, smirking widely. "Great performance, man. There's a second part to it, though."

"Are you serious?!"

- - - - -

Then, for twenty minutes, I want you to stay away from Max. DON'T let her see  
you.

- - - -

"Twenty minutes?" I complained; I couldn't keep an eye on them if I wasn't in the same room.

"Yep. Have fun." He gave me one last parting grin and walked back to the den.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Then, when the twenty minutes are up, I want you to go and reenact the scene  
where Edward was trying to make Bella know she wasn't dreaming, that he loved  
her, and that he wants to marry her.

Conditions: you have to use your REAL names, and ages. The rest is up to  
YOU!

i KNOW THIS IS LONG, BUT PLEASE DO IT!

"Fun," I grumbled out in the hall, waiting for the twenty minutes to end. W_hy_ did I keep getting sent out into the hall?

"Okay, Fang! Twenty minutes are up!" I stalked back inside, sweeping the area to make sure it wasn't in total chaos. Everything _looked_ okay, so I sat down beside Max and took the book back.

"Have fun out there?" She asked, smiling slightly. I nodded.

"Tons."

Again, we searched the 400+ book for the part we needed, teasing each other the whole time.

"What was with that scream? I think you burst my eardrums."

"Is that so, Mr. PMS?"

"You noticed too?"

"Hard not to."

I shook my head and found the page, smiling slightly. "You guys ready?"

Max closed her eyes, yawning slightly. I sat closer, feeling awkward. She looked up and jumped.

"'Did I scare you?'" I asked softly. She blinked a few times.

"'Oh, cr--ud...'"

"'What's wrong, Max?'" I questioned. She frowned at me, annoyed, and a little sad. I stared at her worriedly.

"'I'm dead, right? I _drowned_, right? Crud, crud, crud! Gazzy's gonna freak...'" Gazzy chuckled.

"'You're not dead.'" I said, annoyed.

"'Then why aren't I awake?'" She deadpanned.

"'You are awake, Max.'" She shook her head.

"'Sure, sure. That's what you want me to think, and then, when I wake up, everything's going to be worse. If I wake up... thing that _isn't_ going to happen because I'm dead. This is horrible... Poor Gazzy, and Nudge! And Total!'" She stared at me, horrified.

Nudge and Sean snickered slightly. "'So, I see you've confused me with a nightmare...'" I gave her a wry grin. "'What I can't imagine is what you have done to end up in hell. Did you commit any murders while I was gone?'"

She grimaced. "'Of course not. You wouldn't be with me if I was in hell.'"

"Gah... the corny-ness..." Iggy groaned, killing the moment.

I sighed, waiting for Bella/Max to get it. "'So... everything that happened is true?'"

"'That depends,'" I smiled slightly. "'If you're talking about almost getting killed in Italy, then yes.'"

"'How strange,'" Max mused. "'I've really gone to Italy. I bet you didn't know I hadn't gone any farther east than Albuquerque.'"

I stared blankly at her. "'Maybe you should go back to sleep. You're incoherent.'"

"'I'm not tired anymore.'" Max grumbled. "'What time is it? How long have I been sleeping?'"

"'It's one A.M. So... about 14 hours.'" Max stretched, yawning.

"'And Gazzy?'"

"'Asleep. You should know right now that I'm breaking the rules, although not technically, of course. Your father told me never to come through his door again; I came through the window. But anyways. It's the thought that counts.'"

"'Gazzy kicked you out of the house?'" Max asked. I gazed at her sadly.

"'Did you expect anything else?'"

She sighed. "'So, what's the story?'"

"'What do you mean?'"

"'What am I going to tell Ch--_Gazzy_? What am I going to say for disappearing...? Now that I think about it, how long have I been out?'"

"'Three days. Actually, I was hoping that you would think of a good explanation. I have nothing.'"

"'Great...'"

"'Well, maybe Angel will be able to make something up,'" I offered. Angel beamed at us.

"'Well... What have you been up to these last three days?'"

"'Nothing that would encourage me excessively.'"

"'Of course not,'" Max mumbled.

"'What's with the face?'" I asked at the grimaced Max pulled.

"'Well... if, after all, you _were_ a dream, that would be the exact answer you would give me. My imagination isn't all that great, obviously.'"

I sighed. "'If I tell you, will you stop thinking this is a nightmare?'" I could barely hear anyone else, they were so quiet.

"'Nightmare,'" Max snorted derisively. "'Maybe... If you tell me.'"

"'I was... hunting.'"

Max rolled her eyes. "'That's the best you can do? That does _not_ prove at all that I'm awake.'"

"'I wasn't hunting to feed. Actually, I was trying to test my skills, as a tracker... And I am not good at it. At all.'"

"'And what exactly were you trying to track?'" Max questioned.

"'Nothing important.'"

"'I don't get it.'"

"'I...'" I sucked in a deep breath. Holy... this was a long paragraph. "'I owe you an apology. No, without a doubt I owe you much more than that, but you have to know I had no idea...'"

"Here's that Nudge impression you guys wanted so bad from me," I mumbled, smirking before turning back to the book. "'I didn't realize the disaster I was leaving behind. I thought you were safe. Totally safe. I had no idea that ... Anne would come back... I have to admit that I paid more attention Jeb's thoughts than hers when we saw her that first time. Therefore, I was unable to foresee that kind of reaction on her part and to realize she had such a close tie to him.'"

"'I think I should have realized now that Anne trusted in him so much that she didn't think he could fail; it never crossed her mind. Maybe it was her overconfidence that clouded her feelings for him and kept me from realizing the deepness of their union.'"

"'But, in any case, I don't have an excuse for letting you deal with this alone. When I heard what you told Angel, and even what she saw for herself, when I realized you'd had to put your life in the hands of werewolves, those immature, volatile creatures, the worst thing out there besides Anne...'"

I stopped to take a breath, coughing slightly. "Edward needs to die now. He talks too much."

Max rolled her eyes and smacked my shoulder. "Just shut up and keep going."

"Contradiction much?" She raised her hand again, making me turn back to the book.

"'Please, believe me when I saw that I had no idea about any of this. My stomach churns, even when I can see you're safe. I have no way to apologize for this...'"

"'Stop, stop,'" Max sighed. "'Fang... This has to stop now. You have to stop seeing things that way. You can't let that... guilt ... rule your life. You don't have to take responsibility of the things that have happened to me here. Nothing that has happened here is your fault; it's just part of the things that tend to happen to me. So what if I trip in front of a bus or whatever; you have to realize that none of it is your fault. You didn't have to run to Italy because you felt bad for saving me."

She stopped to take a breath, and I noticed her eyes unfocused a bit. With a discreet smile, she showed me the unbearably long paragraph she had to read, then the part I had to read. She wanted to skip ahead. Fine by me.

"Maximum Ride, you think I asked the _Erasers_ to kill me because I felt _guilty?_'" Iggy snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Boo! Let's watch Max Paine instead!" Nudge smacked the back of his head, effectively shutting him up.

"'Didn't you?'" Max questioned, twitching slightly. I rolled my eyes at my next sentence.

"'I felt guilty, incredibly so. More than you could begin to comprehend."

"'What are you saying? I don't get it.'' Frankly, neither did I, but what can you do with a schizoid vampire?

"'Max, I went to the Erasers because I thought you had died. Even though I had nothing to do with your death..." I grimaced before continuing. "I would have gone to Italy even if it hadn't been my fault. Obviously we should have been more careful, should have asked Angel instead of believing it straight out of Ella's mouth.'" Ella pouted.

"'But let's see... what was I supposed to think when the boy said Ch--Gazzy was at the funeral? What were the chances?'"

"'The probabilities...'" I sighed. "'The chances are always against us. Mistake after mistake. I am never going to criticize Romeo again.'"

Max chuckled slightly. "'There's still something I don't get, though, and that's the most important point of the question: So what?'"

"'Excuse me?'"

"'What would have happened if I _had_ died?'" I stared at her blankly.

"'Do you remember _anything_ I told you when we first met?'"

She gave me a sour look. "'I remember everything you told me.'"

"'Max, I think there's been a misunderstanding. I thought I'd explained it all to you before. I can't live in a world without you.'"

Leave it to Nudge to sigh romantically when I said that. Max rolled her eyes at me, then sighed. "'I'm confused.'"

"'I'm a good liar, Max. I had to be.'" She stared at me uncomprehendingly. Then she began panicking Bella-style. I rolled my eyes. "'Wait! Wait! Let me finish. I'm a good liar, but, of course, it's your fault too for believing me so quickly.'" I grimaced as I remembered Max's act twenty minutes ago. "'That was unbearable.'"

"'You mean when we were in the forest, and you said goodbye...'"

"'You weren't going to let me go willingly. I realized that. I didn't _want_ to do it; I felt I would die if I did, but I knew that if I didn't convince you that I didn't love you anymore, you would have wanted to finish with your human life too quickly. I had the hope that you would continue with your human life if you thought I had left.'"

Max gulped, scrunched into her blanket. "'A clean break.'"

"'That's right,'" I nodded, blinking tiredly. Were we reading the whole book?! "'But I never imagined that it would be so easy. I thought it would be almost impossible, that you'd realize the truth and that I would have to tell lie after lie for hours to just plant a little seed of doubt in your mind. I lied and I'm so, so sorry because I hurt you, and I'm sorry too because it was a worthless effort. I'm sorry, that after everything I did, I still couldn't protect you from what I am. I lied to save you, but it didn't work. I'm sorry..."

I leaned back, breathing hard. Saying sorry so many times really takes it out of a guy, you know?

"Fang, you still got some apologizing to do," Max chuckled, handing me back the book. I groaned.

"'But how could you believe me? After all the times I told you I loved you, how could one little word break your faith in me?'" I handed Max the book back roughly, cursing whoever made us read an entire freakin' book. Or just about.

"Fang?"

I grimaced. "You can't be serious."

Max nodded meekly and handed me back the book, sensing my irritated mood. "Sorry."

"Meh. Whatever. Let's just get this over with." I grabbed the book, vowing to never again touch it after this. "'I saw in your eyes that you believed me, that I didn't love you anymore. The very idea is ridiculous, absurd. As if I could exist without you!'"

"Goodness gracious, Fang. Take a chill pill, won't you?"

"Shut up Iggy or I'll cram the book down your throat."

"Sure, sure. Maybe some Midol, then?"

I ignored him, skimming Bella's thoughts to see if I talked again. I did. Crap. "'Max, please! Just tell me what you're thinking!'"

Max's face crumpled. "'I knew it,'" She let out a ragged sob. "'I knew I was dreaming!'"

"Why is everyone PMS-ing here?!" Iggy demanded. Nudge shushed him and whacked him with a thick book as a warning.

"Shut it! I wanna hear!"

"'You're impossible,'" I sighed, shaking my head and shooting Iggy dirty looks. "'What do I have to do for you to believe me? You're not dreaming and you're not dead. I'm here and I love you. I've always loved you and I always will. Every second I was away from you I was thinking about you, picturing your face in my mind. When I said I didn't love you, that was the darkest of blasphemies.'"

Max shook her head, eyes red with tears. Not of sadness, mind you. She was cracking up at my performance. Well then... I'd show her. She wanted to see Edward? She was about to get him. "'You don't believe me, do you?" I whispered, scooting closer to her. Her face paled suddenly as she noticed the mischievous look in my eyes.

"Fang...?" I shook my head and looked down at her softly.

"I can see you don't, even in this light," I sighed. "Why can you believe the lie but not the truth?"

Max stared at me, confused, but willing to continue with this... whatever it was. "'There's never been a reason for you to love me. I've always known that."

"I'll prove to you you're not asleep." Fighting a smirk, I reached over and held her face between my hands. She shook her head.

"'Please don't do it." She moaned as I got closer. Iggy let out a wolf-whistle, but I was having fun. I stopped about a centimeter away from her lips, fighting the urge to close the gap.

"Why not?" I whispered back, watching her squirm.

"'When I wake up--'" I opened my mouth to complain, but she rolled her eyes. "'Fine! I'll rephrase: when you leave again, it'll be hard enough without this.'"

I pulled back a bit more to stare at her. "Yesterday you were so cautious... And everything's the same. I need to know why. Is it too late? Did I hurt you too much? Did you move on like I asked you to? That would be... fair. I won't protest against your decision. So don't try to spare my feelings; just tell me now if you can still love me or not, after everything I've done. Can you?" I whispered. Max stared at me like I was an idiot.

"What kind of stupid question is that?" She demanded.

"Just answer it, please."

Max stared at me evenly for a while. "What I feel for you will never change. Of course I love you, and there's nothing you can do about it!" She said fiercely. I smiled at her slightly.

"That's all I needed to hear." She didn't have time to blink, never mind do anything else; I kissed her softly, leaning over the blanket between us. I felt her hands against my shoulders vaguely, and I realized that she hadn't thrown herself away. That was twice now.

I pulled away, trying to keep from flushing in embarrassment like Max was doing. She cleared her throat once and reached for the book, shaking her head. The book lay between us, face down on the page we were on. Barely looking at me, she handed me the book.

I sighed, and continued reading. "By the way, I'm not leaving you again."

Max stared at me skeptically. "I'm not going anywhere. At least, not without you. I just left because I wanted you to have a chance to live a happy life like a normal human. I realized what I was doing, keeping you in danger all the time, keeping you away from the world you belong in, risking your life every minute I was with you. So I had to try. I had to do something, and it seemed to me that leaving was for the best. I would have never been able to leave if I hadn't thought you weren't better off without me. I'm too selfish. You're the most important thing that I want, or need. All I want or need is to be with you and I know I'll never be strong enough to leave again. I have too many excuses to stay, and thank god for that. It seems impossible for you to be safe, no matter how many miles I put between us."

Max grimaced. "Don't promise me anything."

I glared at her. "Do you think I'm lying now?"

"No. You're not lying." Max shook her head, still avoiding meeting my gaze. "You really believe it... now. But what happens tomorrow when you think about all those reasons that you mentioned in the first place? Or next month, when Sean tries to attack me again?"

I backed away a bit, but she continued doggedly. "It's not like you had changed your opinions on the issue, right? You're going to end up doing what you think is right in the end."

"I'm not as strong as you think I am." I answered. "What was good or bad stopped having much importance for me; I was going to come back anyways. Before R... Ella told me the news, I was trying to survive week by week however I could, sometimes even a day at a time. I was fighting to get through every hour bit by bit. It was only a matter of time until I appeared at your window begging you to take me back. I would love to ask you that if you wanted me to."

"Dang. Edward's whipped."

"Iggy, I swear if you don't shut up I'll tell Max what you told Gazzy the other day." Nudge vowed, shooting daggers in Igs direction. Thankfully he shut up.

"Please be serious," Max sighed.

"I am. Will you do me the favor of listening to what I have to say? Will you let me explain how much you mean to me?"

Seeing as how Max didn't answer, I continued. "Before you, Max, my life was like a moonless night. Very dark, but there were stars, points of light and reason. And then you shot through my sky like a meteor."

I sighed, taking in a deep breath. "Suddenly everything was on fire; there was brilliancy. There was beauty. When you were gone, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything went black. Nothing had changed. But my eyes were blinded by the light. I couldn't see the stars anymore and there was no more reason for anything."

Max grimaced. "You'll get used to the light."

"That's the problem. I won't." Max yanked the book away from me and flipped through quite a few pages before handing it back.

"I was getting annoyed."

"Not the only one!" Iggy chirped, leaning back leisurely against Nudge's knees, seeing as how everyone else was occupying the chairs. She looked ready to push him off but decided against it, leaning her books on his head instead.

"Let's finish this, Fang." Max groaned, blinking tiredly. I couldn't blame her; I had a migrane from reading out loud.

"Whatever you're planning, it's not going to work," Max mumbled, annoyed. I smirked.

"Quiet. I'm thinking."

"Meh." She pulled the covers over her head.

"'If you don't mind, I'd prefer it if you didn't hide your face underneath that. I've lived without it as long as I could; now, tell me something.'" I mumbled, having a faint sense of de'ja vu.

"'What?'" Max answered.

"'If someone were to grant you one wish, anything at all, what would you ask for?'"

"'You.'"

"'Something you don't already have.'" Max frowned.

"'I... would like it if ... If Iggy wasn't the one who... did it... I wish you'd be the one that changed me...'"

"'What would you be willing to give in exchange?'" Max blinked, surprised.

"'Anything.'" I smirked.

"'Five years?'" Max shook her head, making me sigh. "'You said _anything_.'"

"Yeah, but you're going to use the time to find a way to get out of changing me. I have to take advantage of the opportunity now that I have it. Besides, it's too dangerous being human, at least for me. So, anything but that."

"Three years?" Max shook her head, looking appalled.

"No!"

"Isn't it worth it?"

"Six months." I shook my head.

"It's not enough." Max sighed.

"In that case... one year. That's my final offer." I stared at her pleadingly.

"Give me at least two." Nudge was staring at us, mouth open.

Max shook her head. "No way. I'm turning sixteen, but I am _not_ getting anywhere near twenty! If you have to stay in your teens forever, then I will too."

"Very well then. Let's forget about the time limits. If you want me to be the one to change you, you have to accept one condition." I stared at her cajolingly.

"Condition?" Max echoed, frowning slightly. "What condition?"

"Marry me first."

"You're joking." I grimaced, stretching.

"You're bruising my ego, Max. I've just asked you to marry me and you think I'm joking."

Max blinked, breathing slightly faster than usual.. "Fang, please, be serious."

"I'm being completely serious," I replied.

"Oh, come on!" Max yelped. "I'm only sixteen!"

"Well, I'm about to turn one-hundred and seven. I think it's about time I settled down."

"You see, marriage doesn't exactly... figure in my list of priorities, you know? It was kind of like the kiss of death for my mom and dad." I rolled my eyes.

"Interesting choice of words." Max frowned.

"You know what I mean."

I breathed in deeply. "Please don't tell me you're afraid of commitment."

"No... it's not that, exactly..." She stalled. "I'm more afraid of what Mom's going to say. She's got a lot of convictions when it comes to getting married before thirty."

"So you'd rather become one of the eternally damned than a married woman?" I muttered darkly.

"You think you're so funny..."

"Max. There is no comparison between the level of commitment of a marital union and the renouncing of a soul in exchange of turning you into a vampire for all eternity..." I grimaced. "If you're not brave enough to marry me, then..."

Max glared at me. "Well, what happens if I do? If I said to take me to Las Vegas right now? Would I be a vampire in three days?" She demanded. I chuckled.

"Sure. I'll go get my car." Nudge stood up and clapped wildly, making the rest of us chuckle.

"Anyone else get that freaky deja'vu thing?" Sean asked, stretching. I nodded. Fun as that was, I was glad it was over.

- - - - - - -

_eak917 types: (while still laughing at the story)_

Max: Do you ever regret doing something? (you can pick which something)I dare  
you to...let's see...exclaim your unending love for SEAN! (angel, some help  
would be appreciated)

- - - - -

Max sniffled. "Yeah. I regret doing lots of things. Most of them stupid."

"That's true." She gave me a feeble glare and stuck her tongue out at me.

"You're not supposed to agree, Fang." She yawned and coughed for a bit, letting everything she'd been keeping in during the reading out.

"Sean I love you," She muttered between coughs, laughing at Ella's possessive grip on him.

"I'm sorry, Max," Sean returned gravely. "But I love Ella."

"Oh. Okay then!" With that, Max leaned back, using the now-empty bottle of Mountain Dew as a pillow.

- - - - - 

Fang: What's the happiest moment of your life? (details galore) Your dare is  
to imitate gazzy and/or nudge!!

_- - - - - -_

I groaned. "Already imitated them, thanks. And happiest moment will definitely have to be the day we got sprung from the School."

"And we sure as hell don't want details of that," Iggy muttered, frowning darkly. I nodded.

"Don't worry, man. Not going down that particular strip of Memory Lane in a while."

_- - - - - -_

_Gazzy: Has anyone ever pinched your cheek? (face) Your dare is to fart at 10  
random people on the street._

_- - - - - - -_

Gazzer shook his head. "Nope."

Ella smirked and reached over, pinching his cheeks and cooing wildly. "Aw, but you're so cute! How can someone _not_ have done this before?"

"Ow...." He glared at Ella, a wounded look on his face. "That hurt..."

Ella squealed and hugged Gazzy, ruffling his hair. Iggy laughed, so I reached over and pinched his cheek.

"Hey!"

"Don't dish it out if you're not willing to receive, dude."

"Jerk."

"I'd say I love you too, man, but let's be honest here..." I joked. Iggy punched my shoulder and laughed again.

"Jackass."

"Whatever, Igs."

- - - - -_  
__question: (Book 4 Spoiler!!)_

Max (sorry but i gotta know) in book 4 chapter 13 page 50 (hard back)  
paragraph uh 2 i guess... did you mean it? do u really mean that sentences or  
was it just in the moment thing? angel see if she is saying the truth... and  
what Fang is thinking. no lying plz...

- - - - - -

"Whoa. Specific." Iggy noted as we rooted around our junk to find the book. Angel ran upstairs, smiling.

A few minutes later, she came down, book in hand. She handed it to Max, who grimaced and flipped through the book.

"Page 50? What happened there?" She mumbled, squinting at the page. Slowly, as she continued reading, her face reddened. What?

"Oh, dear Lord..." Her face was beet red. I reached over and tried to take the book, but she jerked back, looking flustered.

Angel giggled. "Come on, Max! Let him see!"

Max shook her head stubbornly, pulling the book under the covers. "No, that's okay..."

"Just let me see the stupid book, Max." I reached over again and pulled the book out of her hands. "Now then... Chapter 13..."

I felt my own cheeks redden as I read:

_... It was incredible. I loved it. I loved _him_. It was a total disaster._

I coughed and turned to stare at Max. "So?"

She flushed angrily, glaring at me. "Shut up."

"Read it out loud, man," Iggy suggested, but I shook my head.

"Nope. This is Max's gig. If she wants to read it out loud, she can. If not, well, too bad."

Of course, deep inside I was wondering if it was true or not or _what_, right, but I wasn't going to barge in and make Max tell me.

Ella smirked like she knew what had happened. "Leave them alone, Iggy. They need to talk things out for themselves."

Seeing as how no one moved, Ella stood up, dragged Sean along with her, and went into the kitchen. A few minutes later she came back with a tub of ice cream.

Gazzy immediately stood up and went after her, followed closely by Nudge and Angel. Iggy groaned but left too. Total and Akila were the only ones left in the room with us, and at our glare they slunk out.

"Oy vey," I heard Max murmur, struggling to look away from me. Very slowly, I walked over and sat beside her.

"You okay? You don't have to answer if you don't want to." I murmured quietly, the high of the day wearing off fast. She glanced at me, still decked out in my 'Jacob' outfit, and giggled.

I rolled my eyes. "Not that bad, see? I can deal with things like this."

She flushed again, looking down. "Sorry 'bout that. Not sure what I was smoking when I told JP that.

I shrugged. "Hey, he's a very persuasive guy. I can't blame you. I probably would have done the same thing."

She chuckled, staring at me awkwardly. "So, you don't mind?"

"Nope." I shook my head and smiled. She returned the gesture and sighed, looking down miserably.

"Yes."

I blinked. "What?"

"Yes. Don't make me say to what, 'cause then I'll beat the daylights out of you." With that, she stalked off, leaving me confused.

- - - - - - -

**So, we're back. Yadda yadda. Can you tell I'm kinda in a bad mood? Well, what can you do, right? **

**Same old, same old, guys; wanna leave something, PM either ****Amaya 24**** or ****Symeria****. And sorry about the delay. Bye!**

**-Max**

**(Know what I've found out? Translating **_**Twilight**_** from Spanish is a pain in the butt. You're welcome!)**


End file.
